


Waking Up in Vegas

by iknowthekoolaidflavor



Series: Waking Up in Vegas [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Hamilton - Miranda (Broadway Cast) RPF
Genre: Cunnilingus, F/M, Masturbation, Slight Panic, Smut, in the later chapters though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 16:46:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14382840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iknowthekoolaidflavor/pseuds/iknowthekoolaidflavor
Summary: Y/N spends the weekend with her best friends in Vegas. She wakes up the next day with a total stranger, yet when she returns home, she realizes this stranger may be in her life longer than she expected.





	1. Do I Know You?

The sun was shining through the window to punish me for whatever I did Saturday night or to remind me why I should’ve refused that sixth shot. Judging by the intensity of my brain pounding against my skull, it must have been seven. As soon as I had any strength to pull my eyes open, I quickly squeezed them shut once more. Maybe I could try again later, when my head doesn’t feel like it could explode at any moment. 

 

The night before, I went out with my best friends, Gina and Ava, we ran into another group of friends who were visiting from out of town as well and became our drinking buddies for the night. 

 

I was still in Vegas.

 

I reached down, to pull the covers over my shoulders and tugged slightly.

 

A sharp intake to breath, followed by a groan came from under me, “Highly doubt that’s what you’re looking for”

 

Finally realizing the “blanket” was a grown man and my hand was still between his legs, I jumped to the other side of the mattress, lost my balance, and fell off the bed entirely. Somehow I managed not to scream.

 

“Are you alright?”, he panicked making his way to my side to help me 

 

He pulled me up, reassuring me that everything was fine. There was very little space between us. Bits and pieces of the night before resurfaced as I got a good look at his face. Running into him and his two friends, taking shots as a group, bar hopping, then separating ourselves from everyone else. In the corner of the bar, we ignored the world around us and made out like teenagers.

 

The more I remembered about being on my own with him, the faster the blush spread across my cheeks. We were standing next to the bed, staring at each other like the night before as if nothing else mattered in this moment except the two of us. I finally averted my gaze and looked down. If my blush wasn’t bad before, it most certainly was worse now.

 

We were both still naked.

 

I jumped back grabbing the blanket to cover up and squeezed my eyes shut.

 

“You’re not wearing any clothes”

 

“And neither are you”, he laughed as he found his boxers to put on, “It’s not like we didn’t see it all last night”

 

“Do you even remember anything?”, I asked nervously shifting back and forth

 

“We ran into you and your friends and bar hopped. Around the time we reached the third bar, things got a little fuzzy. You can look now”

 

“Do you remember the dancing?”, I asked as I began searching for my bra

 

He pulled it from under his jeans on the ground and tossed it to me, “We didn’t dan.. _.oh. _ I asked you to dance and surprisingly you said yes”

 

“We drank..a lot. You shouldn’t be that surprised”, I stated as I motioned for him to turn around so I could put it on

 

Our clothes were thrown all over the floor and furniture, a bottle of champagne knocked off the table along with a lamp, a bouquet of flowers were scattered across the floor, and a condom wrapper was on the nightstand. 

 

My heart was beating out of my chest as I took him in. He was gorgeous to say the least. A knowing smirk spread across his face and I felt my cheeks burn from embarrassment for a second time. 

 

_ “What if they’re still asleep?” _ , a voice mumbled from behind the door

 

_ “Then we wake them. We do have to get back home you know” _ , another said

 

They knocked three times before they hesitantly pushed the door open.

 

“Daveed? (Y/N)?”, a man I recognized as one of his friends stepped in with his hands over his eyes, “Are you up yet?”

 

“Rafa, put your hand down. We’re decent”, he answered

 

“Thank God”, Rafa sighed as he moved his hand away and looked at the state of the room, “Seems like someone had an eventful night.”

 

“One that we can’t seem to remember entirely”, he mumbled 

 

“Maybe we shouldn’t have gone to that third bar”, Ava said as she walked into the room, looking around the same way Rafa did

 

We all nodded in agreement.

 

“Adrienne and I are gonna get dressed in our room. After that we’re all going out for breakfast...brunch...we’re going out to get food! So be ready”, Rafa said as he turned to leave the room

 

“Those flowers weren’t here when we got the room, right?”, Ava finally asked

 

Rafa turned on his heel and marched right back in, eyeing the floor, “Aww Diggs that’s so romantic”, he cooed

 

“Get out”, he laughed as he threw a pillow at him

**********************************

Daveed sat next to me, across from us, Rafa sat next to Adrienne, while Gina sat across from Ava. Gina was chatting animatedly about our upcoming proposal for work, but I could barely hear what she was saying. Daveed and I were in our own little world, talking about what ever came to mind.

 

His gaze never left mine and that shy smile never wavered.

 

What I would give to remember the rest of the night I spent with him. His eyes lingered on my lips for all of two seconds before Rafa started to call our names.

 

“Attention lovebirds!”, he laughed along with everyone else, “Our food is here”

 

We both looked at the plates in front of us, wondering when it got there. We were so caught up in each other, we never noticed. He gave me another shy grin before picking up his fork and directing his attention to his food.

 

“Are you excited for your proposal (Y/N)?”, Adrienne asked after a moment of silence

 

“What proposal?”, Daveed nearly choked, “You're here for a wedding?" 

 

“Smooth”, Rafa mumbled as Adrienne began to laugh at the expense of her friend 

 

“No. Gina and I are working on something to get Tollville Industries to sign with our marketing company. If we get them to sign, the company gets more recognition and we get--”

 

“Promoted!”, Gina sang, “And on top of that I get to see my girlfriend everyday because we’ll be working in the same building!”

 

“We live together”, Ava said as she tried not to smile

 

But their grins said it all. All three of us were beyond excited and terrified for this presentation. If we fail, our boss, who didn’t have any faith in us in the first place, will never let us hear the end of it. We needed this more than ever.

 

The excitement seemed to be rubbing off on the rest of the table as they begin to smile as well. 

 

“That sounds amazing. Isn’t Tollville one of the top industries for--”

 

“Yup. Which is also why this may be one of the most terrifying moments of my life”, I mumbled 

 

“You’ve got this. There’s plenty of time to prepare. It can be terrifying when you have all eyes on you, but trust me you forget about it soon enough and all is well”, Daveed said softly

 

“Is this coming from a previous experience?”

 

“ _ Experiences _ ”, Rafa chimed in, “We’ve been running this workshop that’s a cross between poetry and theatre. We do performances all the time”

 

The rest of conversation went on about their workshop, how they put it all together, and how they met and became friends in the first place. Daveed’s smile started waiver once the check came. Our time together was coming to an end.

 

A part of me wanted things to work out, but this was a one night stand there’s nothing to it. You have your fun, say your goodbyes, and move on with your life. This may have been my first one, but I’m sure I know how they work. And that’s what I needed to do given that he lives on the west coast and I live in New York.

 

After leaving the restaurant, Rafa and Adrienne said their goodbyes and waited for Daveed. 

 

“I guess I can’t say ‘I’ll see you around’ then”, he said softly

 

“I guess not”

 

He looked at me and smiled. The look in his eye told me he had something to ask, couldn’t get it out.

 

“What?”, I asked

 

“This was just supposed to be a one night stand. I know this, but I want to ask for your number anyway”, he paused, “If that’s alright with you”

 

I grinned as I pulled a pen from my purse and scribbled my number on his wrist. 

 

“Hopefully I’ll see you around”, I stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek, “Bye Daveed”

 

“Goodbye (Y/N)”

 

We went our separate ways with them heading back to their hotel while we headed to the airport. I knew this could be a risk, but there was no harm in being just friends, right?

  
  


***********************

**Three Weeks Later**

 

I hadn’t heard anything from Daveed since we left Vegas, which I chose to keep in the back of my mind. Getting this proposal prepared for next week has slightly taken over my life. The late nights and early mornings with Gina and Ava started getting to me on Wednesday. At least today was Friday and I had two hours left. 

 

I finished the rest of my coffee, which did little to wake me up. Trying to resist the urge to throw my computer through the window proved to be a challenge given my sleep deprivation and apparent immunity to caffeine. 

 

The research I was conducting had hit a dead end just as my office door was pushed open.

 

“(Y/N)!”, Greg chirped, “You’re still here, great! I need you to get all the info from the meeting we were in not too long ago. Margaret took notes on it and it’s a mess, no one understands it. So I need you to organize all of it, tables, charts, the whole nine”

 

“That was from three weeks ago. Why doesn’t Margaret just organize it herself? They are  _ her _ notes”, I said trying to keep myself in check

 

“(Y/N), you’re not listening. I told  _ you _ to do it. Besides I gave Margaret the rest of the day off”, he grinned, knowing exactly what he was doing, “Make sure it’s emailed to me by midnight tonight. Have fun”, he sang as he practically pranced out my office

 

It was now four o’clock. I was supposed to get off at five, yet here I am organizing someone else’s notes because my boss is a dick.

 

Maybe I should keep my computer and just toss Greg out the window instead.

 

I grabbed Margaret’s notes off and got to work. By five everyone, including Greg, were leaving the building. I was nowhere near finished.

 

“Make sure everything is on my desk by Tuesday morning so we have time for practice runs”, Gina grinned, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you supposed to be getting off by five too?”

 

“Not anymore”, I groaned, “Greg decided that I needed to organize Margaret’s notes from that meeting from three weeks ago because no one can understand them. It’s damn near twenty pages and she has the tiniest handwriting I’ve ever seen!”

 

“He can’t do that!”, she said as she started to remove her coat, “Give me some of her papers. We’re gonna get this finished”

 

“Gina, that won’t be necessary”, Greg said, magically appearing in my office, “This is a solo project for (Y/N). You two have been so busy working on your little project, that you seem to forget that you have actual work to do. Leave (Y/N) be, she can handle it herself”

 

She shot me an apologetic look as she made her way out the office. As Greg made his way out, he gave me a sickening grin. I should have thrown him out the window when I had the chance.

 

By nine o’clock, I ran out the office after emailing Greg what he needed. If I didn’t get a drink, food, and some sleep soon, there would be hell to pay.

 

I grabbed all my things, practically running out the building to be free for the weekend. After getting the mail, I made my way into my apartment, kicking my heels off in the process. As the stress of the week started to dissipate, there was finally enough energy to go through the bills. One envelope stood out from the rest. It was the size of a sheet of paper, with an address from Las Vegas. 

 

Reading the address was all it took to get my mind on Daveed again. There’s no reason I should be thinking of his warm brown eyes or that shy smile that made me feel things I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be smiling and thinking about him, when I know he isn’t thinking of me. He asked for my number and never called. Lesson learned I guess.

 

I opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. It had a gold embellishments with the names being the only part written in cursive, but everything else was printed clear as day. It could be read clear as day. A part of me thought it was sent to the wrong house until my eyes landed on my name along with the same man I met before leaving.

 

_ ‘This certifies that (Y/N) (Y/L/N) and Daveed Diggs were joined in marriage before witnesses. This day, November 18, 2017’ _

 

_ ‘Witness:  _ _ Ava Nichols _ _ ’ _

 

_ ‘Witness:  _ _ Rafael Casal _ _ ’’ _

 

Holy shit.

  
  



	2. What Happened in Vegas Didn't Stay There

  
  


I sat in my living room in shook. The only noise came from the TV, which I could barely hear as the turn of events started to sink in. There was no way I could be married, especially to someone I knew for all of two days. Hell he wasn’t even that interested in me which was a good thing. If this was true all I have to do is find a way to contact him and get a divorce. As I pulled out my laptop, my phone buzzed.

  
  


**_Gina 9:56 pm_ **

_ Did you make is home? _

 

**_Me 9:57 pm_ **

_ Yeah. I really need to talk to you and Ava about Vegas. _

 

**_Gina 9:59 pm_ **

_ You sound serious. We’ll be over in 10. That alright? _

 

**_Me 10:02 pm_ **

_ Yes _

 

After throwing my phone back on the couch, I googled his name and the first thing I saw were multiple pictures of him to the right of my screen. He had his own Wikipedia page. As I got lost in scrolling through it, someone started knocking on my door.

 

I pulled the door open as Ava and Gina greeted me with worried expressions on their faces.

 

“What happened (Y/N/N)?”, Ava asked as she sat next to me on the couch, while Gina occupied the other side

 

“Is that who I think it is?”, Gina nearly yelled as she grabbed my laptop, “You slept with an actor!? That’s what you’re all worked up about?”

 

My eyes never left the document that sat on the coffee table. Ava leaned over and grabbed the paper that was causing all my trouble.

 

“Holy shit”, Ava looked over to me, panicked, “She’s married to Daveed”

 

“You’re what?”, she nearly yelled again, “How is that possible? We really shouldn’t have gone to that third bar”

 

I sighed as I leaned back on the couch. It grew quiet in my apartment again with the exception of my TV. 

 

“What are you going to do?”, Ava questioned

 

“I don’t have his number, but I can try to message him through social media. If he even responds. I can’t believe I was this irresponsible”

 

“You can message him and in the meantime we’ll keep you company”, Ava reassured me, “It’s the least we can do after the day you’ve had”

 

“I love you guys”, I said as I took my laptop back from Gina, opening Daveed’s twitter

 

**_Me 10:40 pm_ **

_ Hey Daveed. It’s (Y/N). We met in Vegas last week. Something happened the night we were together and it’s pretty urgent. Please get back to me as soon as you can. _

 

I hit send and hoped he would respond quickly.

 

“Now we play the waiting game”, Gina sighed, “If I’m being honest, who the hell does he think he is?”

 

Ava and I both snapped out head in her direction.

 

“Gina”, she gasped

 

“No seriously. The night you two met, it seemed to me that he wanted to be with you. What did he not see in you? He can’t just lead you on like that then leave you hangin’ in the wind. You deserve so much better than that”, she groaned, “It’s his lose anyways”

 

“Very true”, Ava smiled, “He doesn’t even know what he’s missing”

 

We spent the rest of the night watching TV, eating, and talking about the latest office gossip. It felt good to have just the night with my best friends again. They always made me feel like everything was going to be alright, even when it most likely wouldn’t be.

 

When morning came, I pushed myself off the recliner and grabbed a blanket for Ava and Gina, who were knocked out together on the sofa. After taking a shower, I went to make breakfast for them. Almost halfway through, I could hear Ava trying to wake up Gina for the third time.

 

Eventually she muttered a, “Fine stay asleep then” and her footsteps grew closer to the kitchen.

 

“How’s it going Mrs. Diggs?”

 

I groaned and pretty soon we were both laughing as she grabbed some plates.

 

“Please don’t call me that.  _ Ever _ ”

 

“I see he hasn’t responded”, Ava said with much edge in her voice

 

“I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s only been a few hours since I sent it. Maybe he was working or he had a night out with Rafael and Adrienne”

 

“So you think he’s out with his friends again? Maybe this time he won’t wake up married to his second wife”

 

As soon as she said it, I averted my eyes. I know it was supposed to be a one night stand, but there was a part of me that really wished he would have called. The way he looked at me made me feel a way I hadn’t in a pretty long time.

 

“(Y/N)? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I just…”

 

When I turned to Ava, she was sitting at the table with her face in her hands, mumbling something I couldn’t understand.

 

“What’s wrong?”, I asked as I kneeled down in front of her

 

She slowly moved her hands, her eyes were glassy and full of sorrow, “I feel like this is my fault! You could have come home and just moved on, but now you have to go through all of this to--”

 

“It’s not your fault or Rafael’s. None of us were in the right state of mind that night. Daveed and I are grown ups. We decided to get drunk and now we have to deal with the consequences. Please don’t blame yourself. I will never blame you for this”

 

Her eyes widened as she stared down at me, “Are you sure?”

 

“Positive. I know you look after me like a big sister, but this one is on me”

 

We both smiled before we began to laughing. Silently we finished cooking and setting up the table. When it was all said and done, Gina finally made her way to the dining room.

 

“Morning y’all”, she grinned

 

“It’s about damn time”, I muttered, “I thought you planned on sleeping the day away”

 

Gina glared at the both of us as she started making her plate, “After the week we had, we all should’ve slept in. Greg has been making our lives a living hell”

 

We spent the rest of the morning and majority of the afternoon relaxing in my living room. I was glad they decided to stay for the weekend. It helped keep my mind off of the fact that I was married and Daveed still had not responded in spite of him being active on social media.

 

Wednesday rolled around and still no response. By then I started looking into lawyers to help handle this case as well as message Daveed a few more times. 

 

As I walked out of the conference room with Gina, we couldn’t help but giggle with excitement. They loved our presentation and we were getting promoted. The best part was watching Greg’s face contort with embarrassment when they realized he was planning on us failing the entire time. 

 

“It’s time to celebrate!”, Gina tried not to yell as she pulled me into a hug

 

“I can’t wait! We finally did it!”

 

Gina pulled away and straightened her clothes when someone cleared their throat from behind us. I quickly turned around and released a breath I didn’t even realize I was hiding.

 

“Hey Jeremy”, I said softly 

 

Jeremy and I worked together on multiple projects together and became really good friends over my time here. He was always sweet to me, especially when he realized how much of dick our boss was when it came to Gina and I.

 

He smiled softly again, his dimples beginning to show, “Hey, (Y/N). Hi, Gina”

 

“Hey, Jeremy”, she eyed the both of us before a sly grin spread across her face, “We’re going out to celebrate tonight. Want to join us?”   
  


“I was just coming over here to congratulate you two”, he stepped closer with his arm brushing against mine, “I would love to go out with you guys. If that’s alright with you darlin’”

 

I tried not a blush at the nickname he have me years ago. Hearing that in his southern drawl drove me crazy. I made a rule quite some time ago that I would never date my coworkers, but Jeremy could definitely be the exception.

 

A soft, “of course”, was all I could manage to get out

 

“Great”, he said as he began to grin, “Text me the details when you get the chance. I’ll see you around darlin”

 

He waved to Gina and walked back to his office. I stopped holding my breath and leaned against the wall.

 

“What the hell was that? I thought you didn’t have a thing for any of the people we worked with”, Gina shrieked 

 

“I said I wouldn’t date them. I never said none of them were appealing to me”

 

She gave me a knowing smirk and shook her head, “Go for it (Y/N). He’s into you. You’re into him. What’s the worse that could happen?”

 

“She’s married”, Ava said as she walked out the conference room

 

“Shit”, we both muttered as we walked back to our office

********************************

We all sat in the booth trying to catch our breath after Jeremy finished telling his story.

 

“I can’t believe you actually said that”, Gina cried out

 

“It wasn’t supposed to come out that way, but he had it coming”

 

When we all calmed down, Jeremy leaned back into his seat and smiled at me. I returned it as he took my hand under the table. 

 

“I’m glad you invited me out tonight”

 

“That was all Gina, not me”, I clarified

 

“So you didn’t want me to come out?”, he said pretending to be offended

 

“No”, I giggled, “I wanted you to come. I like spending time with you”

 

“I like spending time with you too”, he said as he gave my hand a soft squeeze

 

In my head, everything was planned out. I would meet with a lawyer sometime this week to get divorced whether Daveed wanted to respond or not. A part of me was extremely irritated that he never responded, but I was trying to remain calm about the entire situation. At some point, I would have to tell Jeremy if we continue on like this. Would he even understand? The women he likes accidentally got married and can’t find her husband. Yeah, that should blow over easy. Either way, pretty soon I’ll be a free woman and I won’t have to worry about this ordeal or have  to face Daveed again hopefully.

 

The sooner I got it over with, the sooner I could put it behind me.

************************

As Jeremy walked me up the steps, my stomach was still full of butterflies. We laughed the entire way to my house and he had yet to let go of my hand. 

 

“Did you have a good time?”, he asked shyly

 

“Of course. I always have fun when you’re around”

 

Between the butterflies and blushing, I wasn’t thinking straight. I wanted to kiss him more than anything. I shouldn’t have waited so long to go out with Jeremy. Maybe if we started dating before the trip, I would never be in this position in the first place.

 

“We should try this again with just the two of us”, he smiled as we reached the top to the staircase

 

“It’s a date”, I giggled

 

He grinned at me and looked at my lips for only a second. The mood began to change as we inched closer to each other. Before our lips could touch, someone cleared their throat. We jumped back and Jeremy wrapped his arm around my waist before I lost my balance.

 

We both looked in the direction of the noise and my eyes widened. If it wasn’t for the shock, I would have screamed at him until my face turned blue. 

 

“Umm, hey (Y/N)”, Daveed said nervously

 

This can’t be happening.

  
  
  
  



	3. Stuck Together

“Umm, hey (Y/N)”, Daveed said nervously

 

Jeremy shifted next to me, taking in all that was going on. I could only imagine all the thoughts running through his head at the moment. I stood next to him, anger coursing through me due to the man standing in front of us.

 

“Is everything alright?”, he asked while taking a defensive stance to distance me from Daveed

 

“I don’t know. Is it?”, I sneered, “I mean it's only been five days since I told you and instead of actually responding, you randomly show up at my apartment? How do you even know where I live?”

 

“Uhh..”

 

“Seriously, do I need to call the police?”, Jeremy cut in

 

I stepped around him and took his hand, “That won’t be needed. There’s something I need to talk to him about alone”

 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay (Y/N)? You’ve never mentioned this guy's name before and it seems like he’s giving you trouble. Are you positive you need me to leave?”

 

I sighed and glared at Daveed, who stepped away from the both of us, unsure of what to say next.

 

“I can’t explain everything to you right this second, but I promise I’ll tell you everything tomorrow”

 

I squeezed his hand and tried to smile, but the stress was beginning to take its toll on me. He deserved to know if we planned to continue on like this. How would he react to it was what stressed me out the most.

 

“Okay”, he said softly as he pulled me into a hug, “Call me if you need anything”

 

He leaned down to kiss my forehead and gave me a smile. Before he walked down the steps, he gave Daveed a once over, then glared at him and disappeared.

 

I turned on my heels. This was not the way I pictured any of this happening. As soon as I stepped into my house, Daveed trailed in right behind me. I kicked my shoes off, threw my purse on the coffee table, then took my hair out of its bun. 

 

After taking several deep breaths, I made my way to the kitchen to grab some water. He could wait for all I cared, since he did the same thing to me. When I reached my living room, he stood in the middle of it, looking around nervously. 

 

“I shoul-”, he started

 

“No”, I said trying to get a hold of my anger, “It’s been five days Daveed. Five. Days. And you couldn’t respond at all?”

 

“I--”

 

“Just stop. As active as you are on social media, you’re going to try and tell me you didn’t see it? Do you even know what’s going on?”, I said as I left to grab the paper

 

He followed me again.

 

“I panicked (Y/N). I didn’t mean to hurt you”, he said from the doorway of my bedroom

 

“Panicked? For what? I’m used to being rejected, so when you didn’t call. I figured I could just forget about you and move on, but then I got this in the mail”

 

He took the paper from my hand and read every single word.

 

“Holy shit”, was all he could get out

 

“Mhmm”

 

“We’re...you and I...we’re…”

 

“Married. Yes, apparently chapels in Vegas don’t care how drunk you are. As long as you can afford it that’s all that matters”

 

“What are we going to do?”, he asked as I sat on my bed

 

“I have a meeting with an attorney tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to see what I could do to get this marriage annulled since you were M.I.A”, I sneered

 

“(Y/N) I’m so so--”

 

“No. I don’t need an apology from you. You made it very clear that you didn’t want anything to do with me after we went our separate ways so I don’t see the point in discussing this any further. Meet me at the courthouse on 60 Centre street at 6 o’clock. Don’t be late”

 

Before he could go any further, I glared in his direction for the second time. It’s strange seeing a man of his stature become so small. He looked anywhere but me as he put his hands in his pockets.

 

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then”, he quickly turned on his heel and left my room. Once I heard my front door shut, I left my room to get my phone and make sure the door was locked. 

 

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

**************************

 

I stepped into the courthouse at 6:10 and groaned as I finally reached the room. Daveed was sitting across from one man and a laptop facing him, both were laughing. When the door shut, they finally looked in my direction.

 

“Mrs.Diggs, it’s nice to finally meet you”, he smiled as he shook my hand, “My name is Ezra Morgan”

 

“I’m (Y/N) (Y/L/N)”, I said stressing my last name, “My last name was never legally changed”

 

“I see. Please have a seat”

 

“And I’m Judge Nelson”, the other man on the screen stated, “I’ll be hearing out your case”

 

“Nice to meet you”, I said as I took a seat next to Daveed, who wore a smug grin on his face.

 

“So you’re allowed to be late, but I’m not?”

 

“Since I was the only one handling this mishap in the first place, I’m going to say yes”

 

As Mr. Morgan went over our paperwork silently, I text Gina and Ava while Daveed bounced his leg nervously.

 

“Can you stop?”, I asked as I rolled my eyes

 

“ I can’t. I wanted to talk to you, but you wouldn’t listen to me. Don’t want you thinking I ignored you because I wasn’t interested in you”, he grew silent, waiting for me to object

 

“After I got back to California, I debated calling you. I wanted to see where this would go, but I made the assumption that the distance would kill it before it could become something--”

 

“So you decided to end it yourself instead. That makes so sense”, I said sarcastically

 

“(Y/N)”, he sighed, “I’m sorry. I really am. Then I saw your message and I started to panic because I thought I was going to be a father. I wasn’t going to leave you hangin’. I would have helped out in every way that I could. I just needed time to process before I came to find you. I feel like an idiot”

 

He sighed again before hesitantly reaching for my hand, but ended up pulling it away. He looked dejected and confused. I was still a little upset that he took forever to respond. It was alright though, pretty soon this would all be over. He could go back to living his life and I could go back to mine. 

 

“Daveed”, I said as I grabbed his hand, “It’s fine. You had every right to freak out. I did too when I got that damn certificate in the mail. You could have at least asked what it was first before making that assumption and this could have ended a lot quicker. Don’t you think?”

 

“Yeah, I guess”, he smiled softly and I found myself smiling back

 

Being this close to Daveed reminded me of the last time I saw him. That warm feeling that took over every time we met each other’s gaze. Should my heart be beating this fast? It shouldn't, right?

 

Mr. Morgan cleared his throat and we broke out of the little bubble we created. He was smiling at us.

 

“Judge Nelson is a judge in Nevada that makes the final decision in cases similar to yours. Can you run me through what you remember from your time in Vegas?”, he asked 

 

“I was out with my friends”, Daveed started

 

“Were one of these friends the witness?”

 

“Yeah, Rafael Casal. We ran into (Y/N) and her friends, one was the other witness. We decided to hang out for the rest of the night as a group and we bar hopped”

 

“What was your relationship with... Ms. (Y/L/N) throughout the rest of the night?”, Judge Nelson asked

 

“Umm…”, he said as he eyed me nervously

 

“We took an interest in each other. Both of our respective friends are dating, so it left us on our own for most of the night. We woke up the next day in the same room and a few weeks later, I got our marriage certificate in the mail”, I stated

 

“When you arrived to the chapel you and your friends were already drunk?”, Judge Nelson asked as he began writing something down

 

“Yes, we were”

 

“Do you have any more questions Ezra?”

 

“No, I have most of the information here”

 

“Then I think that is enough for today. We’ll reconvene later for my verdict. It was nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Diggs”, the judge responded

 

“That’s not my--”

 

Before I could finish, he ended the video. 

 

“If you have any more questions, please call or email me during office hours. Until then, I will be in contact once he makes his decision”, Mr. Morgan said as he shook our hands, “Goodbye, Daveed and (Y/N)”

 

“Goodbye”

 

“Bye Ezra”

 

“Should I be alarmed that you address our attorney by his first name already?”, I asked as I turned to face Daveed

 

“Not at all”

 

We walked out the courthouse and I felt a rush of relief that we’re finally doing something about this. We both agreed to get some food down the street. As we made our way to the restaurant, Daveed made sure to slow down his pace so he could switch sides to be closer to the street.

By the time I realized it, we were already there.

 

After we were seated, we sat in the booth as an awkward silence took over. I caught him staring at me at least two times and each time he quickly averted his gaze.

 

“Do you have something you need to get off your chest?”

 

“This is weird”, he states as he looks at the menu again

 

“Thank god I’m not the only one”

 

He smiled as I started to giggle.

 

“Congratulations on finishing your movie with Rafael by the way”

 

“How did you--”

 

“When I was trying to find your address or at least some other way to contact you, it came up”

 

“So you kept tabs on me?”

 

“How else was I supposed to find my husband?”, I muttered

 

He smiled softly at me, “I can’t believe we got married”

 

“I know”, I sighed, “It was a mistake that will be corrected shortly so it doesn’t matter”

 

Daveed’s smile disappeared as he tried not to let his scowl show. The waitress came by to take our orders and even afterwards, he didn’t say a thing.

 

“Are you alright?”, I asked breaking the silence, “You’re awfully quiet”

 

“Nothing you need to worry about”

 

He spent the rest of our lunch ignoring me and avoiding eye contact. Once we were finished, we stepped out of the restaurant and he still hadn’t said a word.

 

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

 

“It doesn’t matter. It’ll get corrected shortly anyways”

 

“Wait...you  _ want _ to stay married?”

 

“No, but I don’t want to be seen as a mistake either”, he said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away

 

I caught up after calling his name, “The fact that we’re both married is a mistake, but that doesn’t mean you are. I liked you and I liked hanging out with you. If we were under different circumstances and actually kept in contact this could have been something”

 

His mood seemed to deflate more as I went on. He sighed softly as we nearly reached the courthouse.

 

“I understand. I honestly do. The chance of us being together are slim to none now. Also because you have…”

 

“Jeremy. I have...I forgot to tell Jeremy!”, I nearly yelled, “Oh my god”

 

“You were going to tell him about us?”, he laughed, “At least you're being honest”

 

“Well yeah, if we decide to get in a relationship, I can’t start off on a lie”

 

“True. i doubt he would be happy to find out you were married to me when you first started dating. I saw the way he looked at me. He doesn’t trust me at all”, he agreed, “Isn’t that Mr. Morgan?”

 

When I looked up Mr. Morgan made eye contact and quickly made his way towards us.

 

“I’m so glad I ran into you two”, he paused to catch his breath, “I tried to call you earlier, but you didn’t answer”

 

“Well that didn’t take long”, Daveed mused 

 

“No, it didn’t take him that long to reach a ruling. We should go inside to discuss this if you have time”

 

“For this I’ll make all the time in the world”, I said as Daveed rolled his eyes

 

We made our way back into the conference room and he pulled out a few pieces of paper from his briefcase.

 

He gave a pained sigh and I knew his news couldn’t be good.

 

“Judge Nelson decided to reject your annulment”, he softly stated as he pushed his glasses off his nose

 

“He what!?”, we both shouted 

 

“Nelson has dealt with so many cases like this before and he has grown very irritated with people doing exactly what you two did. He said it and I quote, ‘It is a constant disrespect to the sanctity of marriage’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Diggs must learn what it takes to make a marriage work for a trial run of thirty days’”

 

“He can’t do that”, I nearly screamed, “It was an accident! This has to be the dumbest ruling I have ever heard of”

 

“I thought it was mistake?”, Daveed says with raised eyebrows

 

“Daveed, not now! Can he force us stay married?”

 

“He’s already done it. Your trial starts today”, he said as he passed the papers along to me, “At least once a week you’ll both check in with a marriage counselor and after thirty days he’ll grant you your annulment” 

 

“How will that work? Daveed doesn’t even live in New York”

 

I was looking for almost any excuse to make Judge Nelson change his mind.

 

“Actually I’ll be here for a little over a month. That workshop Rafa told you about is in New York”, Daveed smirked

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me”, I sighed, “Why is this so funny to you?”

 

“It’s kind of funny to see you not get your way. It might be childish, but it’s hilarious”, he said as continued to smirk

 

I gave Daveed the coldest look I could muster and leaned in closer, “I’m making your life a living hell  _ husband _ ” 

 

The smirk quickly left his face as he pushed his chair away from me.

 

This was going to be a very long month.

  
  
  
  



	4. The Countdown Begins

**Day 2 Friday**

 

Since yesterday, the only people I could bring myself to talk to were Gina and Ava. Daveed and I went our separate ways after arguing on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. To everyone else we looked like a young, troubled couple coming to terms with the end of a relationship. It was like that.

 

Partially.

 

Instead it was a couple being forced to remain married because of one stupid judge. We were to strangers stuck in an unfortunate situation, but whenever I brought that up Daveed took offense to it. I didn’t understand his issue with it when it was the truth. Whether we slept together or not, we didn’t really know each other. 

 

According to him, staying married for month wouldn’t be so bad. For him it wouldn’t be. He decided he wanted nothing to do with me and just when I start moving on he just shows up. We could go to the counselor as much as he wants and it still won’t change a thing. This was a mistake and he should know that.

 

I slumped into the chair in my new office and sighed. This was not how I pictured my week going. Most of my day will consist of learning the ropes, nothing too difficult which I was thankful for. My mind was not in the right place.

 

Gina and I met with our bosses to go over what we would need to have completed in the next few weeks which wasn’t much, but we were still excited. Ava and Gina asked me periodically how I was holding up if there was a moment of silence on my part. Taking part in office gossip was our thing, but today I couldn’t. Even as I tried to assure them I was alright, they knew I was lying. 

 

I pulled my phone from my purse as it started to vibrate. An unsaved number flashed across my screen, then it stopped. It called me three times and now it was ringing again.

 

“Hello?”, I uttered after finally deciding to answer

 

“Hello, (Y/N)?”, Daveed’s voice rang through my phone, “You’re a hard person to get a hold of”

 

I could almost picture him standing in his hotel room nervously, running his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. It was probably that same nervous look on his face from when we first met. I tried my best to ignore the warm feeling that overcame me when I thought about his nervous grin. 

 

“(Y/N)? You still there?”

 

“Yeah, I’m still here. How did you get my number in the first place?”

 

“Mr. Morgan gave it to me”

 

“Why are you calling me?”, I groaned, trying to regain my composure

 

“We haven’t had a real conversation about what happened yesterday and I wanted to talk about it because I don’t know how you feel. I never know how you feel actually...unless you’re yelling at me”

 

“I had a good reason to and you know it!”

 

“Yeah, sure. We can meet at your place or mine, whichever works for you”

 

“None. Let’s meet in neutral territory so we can figure this out. I’ll text you the address of my office and we can figure out where to go from there”, I said as I heard my door squeak as it pushed open

 

My heart sunk, realizing who was standing right in front of me. I never got the chance to tell Jeremy about my trip to Vegas and how it followed me home. I was too focused on the fact that I’m being forced to stay married to a stranger.

 

“I have to go”, I quickly stated 

 

“Uhh, ok--”

 

I hung up and took a breath.

 

“How have you been (Y/N)?”, he asked, giving me a small smile

 

“I’ve been so much better. I wanted to talk to you about what happened after you left, but things got a little...complicated”, I said as I looked for something to fiddle with before I gave him the explanation I had been dreading

.

“I have a feeling this is bad news. Was that guy your ex?”, he asks as he took the seat in front of my desk

 

“I wish he was just an ex”, I mumbled, “I met him in Vegas”

 

His blank expression didn’t budge, yet I knew he was waiting for me to continue.

 

“Ava, Gina, and I ran into Daveed and his friends when we were there and we decided to hang out with them for the rest of the night. The next day I woke up in bed with him and none of us could remember much from the night before. That same day we went our separate ways. It seemed like we were going to stay in contact, but that never happened”

 

I took another breath and looked at Jeremy again.

 

“So he was a fling you had a Vegas that decided to come find you?”, he scoffed, “Why were you so calm when you saw him in the front of your apartment? You should have been more worried. You--”

 

“He’s my husband”, I stated so quietly only he could hear me, “A few weeks after getting back, I got our official marriage certificate in the mail. Apparently we went out and got married too”

 

“What are you going to do now? You’re staying married to a stranger?”

 

There was no malice in his voice, but I could tell he was getting upset and what I had to tell him next would most likely push him over the edge.

 

“We went to get an annulment yesterday, but the judge denied it. He’s making an example out of us since it happens so often. We have to stay married for thirty days and go to marriage counseling”

 

He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, “Figures the girl I’ve always wanted finally gives me a chance and she comes with baggage. I never saw this coming”

 

“Well neither did I!”

 

“But it’s happening anyway! You had a husband and that wasn’t the first thing you wanted to tell me!? As far as I’m concerned you can stay with him. I’m done with you”, he sneered as he left my office

 

My heart sunk so low, I didn't have the energy to stop him from leaving. My eyes burned with tears as I looked down at my phone. Surely Daveed couldn’t be dealing with the same thing. I honestly hope he wasn’t. The last I wanted for was anyone to get hurt because of our mistake.

 

For most the most part, the rest of the day was a blur. I grabbed my things to leave the office when, Sharon, one of my new coworkers, squealed as she ran up to me with open arms.

 

“(Y/N) why didn’t you tell me!? This must be so exciting for you!”, she said as she pulled me into a hug

 

“Sharon you knew about my promotion on Wednesday”, I laughed, “You already forgot?”

 

“No, not that! Well not entirely. You got promoted and you’re a newlywed! Congratulations! We’re all so happy for you”

 

“W-we?”

 

“Yeah, the whole office knows. A little birdie was talking about in the break room a few hours ago. They said you guys met in Vegas and eloped. Who’s the lucky person? We’d love to meet them”

 

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears and my hands were beginning to shake. Jeremy told the entire office out of spite. I tried to take a deep breath, but it felt like no air was reaching my lungs. I felt my eyes begin to burn with tears for the second time today. I just got this promotion and I didn’t need him airing my business out for all to hear. I had a reputation to uphold and the last thing I need is everyone knowing how irresponsible I was.

 

Before Sharon could say another word, Ava appeared out of nowhere and was by my side to escort me out the building. Once I was outside, it became easier to breathe.

 

“(Y/N)”, a familiar deep voice called

 

I was soon pulled into someone’s arms that weren’t Ava’s. I inhaled the all too familiar scent and relaxed. Daveed squeezed me tighter as I rested my head on his chest.

 

“(Y/N/N) what happened?”, Ava asked softly 

 

“Jeremy”, I mumbled

 

As soon as his name left my mouth, Daveed tensed.

 

“What did he do?”

 

He tried to remain calm, yet his own voice betrayed him. When did he get so protective over me?

 

“He told everyone in our office that I got married in Vegas. Everyone knows and according to Sharon, everyone’s talking about it. I just got this job. This isn’t something everyone needs to know”

 

Daveed tensed again. This time I looked up at him and he began to wipe away the stray tears from my cheeks. I could see the pain in his eyes as he watched my failed attempt at holding myself together. 

 

“Why would he do that? I thought you two liked each other?”, he asked

 

“I told him about what happened in Vegas and that we have to stay married for a month. He said that I brought on too much baggage and he was done with me. I should have told him sooner. That way--”

 

“No”, he said firmly, “Please don’t act like this is all your fault. Regardless of when you decided to tell him, he decided to act like a child. He hurt you and now I’m tempted to kick his ass”

 

He pulled away from me and made his way to the front door.

 

“Daveed no!”, I nearly yelled as I grabbed his hand

 

He turned around and smiled softly as he looked down at our hands, “Are you sure because he’s had this coming since Wednesday”

 

“I’m positive. If you go in and fight him, we both get in trouble. He knows who you are remember? Also he doesn’t like you”

 

“And I don’t like him. Have I not made that obvious?”, he sighed and squeezed my hand, “I just can’t stand that he’s hurting you like this. You deserve so much better”

 

His brown eyes met mine as a shy smile made its way across his face. My cheeks began to burn as I tried to hide my own smile. Daveed pulled me in for a hug as Ava said her goodbyes and went back to the office. There was an edge to her voice meaning Jeremy was about to get a piece of her mind. For that i was grateful, but Jeremy needed to hear from me too.

 

We walked to a small restaurant down the street with our fingers still intertwined. We didn’t separate until we were seated.

 

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

 

“I’ll be fine”

 

“You can always come talk to me...if you want”

 

That nervous grin crept across his features again and I found myself smiling back without any hesitation. Even after everything, I almost always feel at ease when he’s around.

 

“How do you think we should deal with this?”, I asked as I toyed with the napkin in front of me

 

“We still have counseling to go to and I’m sure we both know that staying married after thirty days is a terrible idea…”

 

“Very true. I’m sorry for the way I reacted when we left the courthouse. It took me by surprise and I took it out on you. There was never a moment that I thought you were the mistake, just us getting drunk and then married”

 

“Thank you. I’m sorry for the way I reacted too. I wasn’t taking in the fact that I made things worse. We should just focus on being friends. We never had a chance for that since this all started and I really want to get to know you”, he stated with such certainty that I knew he’s thought about this before 

 

“That sounds like a good idea. I want to get to know you too, not from what I’ve seen online, but actually get to know you”

 

His eyebrows rose after my statement in shock, “What did you see online?”

 

“Nothing”, I said as I tried to hide my grin

 

“(Y/N) what did you see?”, he asked again

 

“Just a little video Gina showed me the other day”

 

He was on the edge of seat, waiting for me to finish. I finally decided to put him out of his misery, but just as I opened my mouth the waitress showed up to take our order.

 

As Daveed gave her his order, I began to softly sing the chorus to Yoga Boner. He stopped his order, nearly dropping his menu. His eyes widened in horror as I burst out laughing. Tears started to stream down my cheeks as she told us she would give us more time.

 

When I calmed down, I wiped the tears off my face and finally looked at him again. He said back in his chair, trying to stay angry, but failing miserably. He broke out into a smile. In that moment, I felt nothing but content. 

 

I could see us making this friendship work as we got to know each other. We were going to be great friends and I think he knows it too.

  
  



	5. Heat of the Moment

**Day 3 Saturday 12:35 a.m.**

 

“So I’m not allowed at your house again?”, Daveed laughed

 

“Absolutely not! After that little stunt you pulled a couple of days ago, I’ve decided that you aren’t coming back until I invite you”, I countered

 

“Who knows when that will be”, he sighed

 

A couple of hours ago, he walked me to my door. As I started to change my clothes, he called me once he got back to his hotel. This was four hours ago.

 

“You aren’t bored of me yet?”, I asked

 

“What would make you say that? I could never grow tired of you. You’re too special to me”

 

I tried to ignore that warm feeling that took over whenever he said things like this to me, which appeared to be happening more often. We were sticking to be friends and that was final, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about how nice his lips were and how bad I wanted his arms around me again. 

 

“Don’t you have a meeting tomorrow...today?”

 

“Rafa doesn’t get here until three, so until then I’m all yours”

 

Trying to keep myself from giggling proved useless after he asked what I thought was so funny.

 

“I can just picture you right now, standing in your room with that stupid smile on your face. It’s cute”, I mumbled

 

“You think my smile is cute?”

 

Shit. 

 

“I...umm...yeah? Is that bad?”

 

“Not at all”, he chuckled, “It means alot coming from you. You have the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen”

 

The feeling intensified. I tried to keep my wayward thoughts at bay. The ones that wished I invited Daveed inside so I didn’t have to picture what he was doing while we spoke on the phone. I just wanted him here with me.

 

“(Y/N)? (Y/N)!”, he called louder than before, “You still there?”

 

“Yeah, where else would I be?”

 

“I asked what your plans are for today”

 

I could hear him quietly yawing in the background as he shifted on his bed. I made my way to my room and finally collapsed on my bed. 

 

“I’m spending the day with Gina and Ava. In the evening, I’ll be home. They’re celebrating their anniversary, you know”

 

“I didn’t know they were married”, he pondered

 

“They aren’t. They’ve been dating for four years though. What are you doing after your meeting with Rafa?”

 

“He wants to go out to eat and get a few drinks”

 

“Careful Daveed, you don’t want to end up with a second wife”, I muttered as I pulled my blanket over my legs

 

He laughed quietly, but didn’t respond.

 

“Daveed?”, I called 

 

There was no response after I called his name a second time. He softly snored in my ear. We could have this conversation later.

 

“Goodnight Daveed”, I gently said before hanging up the phone

******************************************

**_Daveed 6:35 pm_ **

_ If you’re already home, would you like to go bowling with me and Rafa? _

 

Gina peered over my shoulder just as I opened up my recent text message.

 

“Aww, hubby wants to take you out”, she grinned

 

I rolled my eyes as Ava began to smile brightly.

 

“If I did decide to go, it wouldn’t just be the two of us. Rafa will be there too”, I groaned

 

“But you want it to be just the two of you”, she continued to taunt

 

“My perspective of him may have changed a little”, Ava chimed in, “After seeing the way he took care of you on Friday, I’m not entirely convinced he’s over you and you certainly aren’t over him either”

 

“What? Yes I am. We’re going to be friends and that’s it”

 

“HA! You keep telling yourself that”, Gina said as she snatched my phone out my hand, “With the way you always smile when we bring his name up, I beg to differ. You two will be in love way before thirty days are over”

 

“Want to bet?”, I challenged as I tried to get my phone back

 

We wrestled for my phone as she continued to type, unphased by my antics. Gina may have been smaller than me, but she could hold her own.

 

“I swear it’s like taking care of children”, Ava sighed

 

“And send”

 

“Send what? Gina!”, I yelled as she doubled over in laughter, “Why did you send him your address?”

 

“So he can pick you up from here genius!”

 

I groaned as my phone vibrated again.

 

**_Daveed 6:42 pm_ **

_ You really don’t want me at your house, do you? I’m so hurt  _


	6. Dreams v. Reality

_ The wrap party is in full swing. Most of the cast are consuming margaritas, buzzing with excitement over how the film will turn out. Rafa and Adrienne are talking to Gina and Ava, but Daveed and I somehow made our way into the house they used for filming. It was empty so he pulled me into one of the rooms and locked the door. _

 

_ His lips immediately made there way to my neck as he unbuttoned my blouse. The second it touched the floor, my pants and panties followed suit. His lips found mine, but it wasn’t as soft as the kiss we shared before. It was rough and possessive and it drove me insane. He pushed me onto the couch and slowly kissed up my thighs until he reached the center. _

 

_ He smirked at me, knowing how bad I wanted him, yet he took his time. Each time I tried pushing myself closer to his face, he pulled them back down with a firm grip. Daveed bit the inside of my thigh then kissed the bruise that began to form.  _

 

_ I whimpered, begging for more until he finally took pity on me. He pulled my hips forward and softly sucked on my clit. My bad arched as I ran the fingers through his hair. Another moan escaped my lips as I felt myself nearing the edge... _

 

**Day 4**

 

“That must have been some dream”, Ava giggled as she folded the rest of her clothes

 

“What are you talking about?”, I groaned 

 

“I’m talking about that”, she said as she points to the sheets that were now on the floor, “I heard a lot of noise coming from this room and I honestly thought something happened to you...I mean something was happening to you, but you seemed to be enjoying it”

 

Gina and Ava burst into a fit of laughter as I buried my face under a pillow. My cheeks were on fire.

 

“Thank God they didn’t spend the night. Can you imagine Daveed getting an ear full of that?”

 

Gina jumped on the bed next to me imitating the noises I was apparently making, “ _ Daveed. Please _ ”

 

“Oh my God. Shut up!”

 

“He’s a gentleman. He wouldn’t touch you unless you asked”, Gina pondered for a moment, “Well after last night--”

 

“Gina! Don’t you dare”

 

My phone vibrated on the nightstand and Daveed’s name flashed across the screen. The events of last night flooded my memory. There was no way I could have forgotten that kiss. 

 

“He’s been calling all morning. According to Rafa, he thinks he messed everything up again. Did he?”, Gina asked for once sounding sincere

 

“I don’t know….don’t think so...not sure”, I mumbled

 

“You could actually talk to him and figure it out. You’re not in this marriage by yourself, so you should work things out together”, Ava chimed in

 

I sighed after my phone finally stopped ringing. It vibrated once more, but there were no more calls. Ava and Gina left me on my own and a part of me hated it. I didn’t really want to talk to Daveed about my feelings for him because I never saw how this could help the situation we were in in the first place. A part of me wanted to tell him everything was fine, that I liked kissing him because it’s been on mind since he came back. 

 

If I give into my feelings won’t that complicate everything even more? We haven’t known each other for long, yet we’re being forced to stay together. What if these feelings are only resurfacing  due to the situation we’re in and not because we really care for each other?

 

I groaned as I finally unlocked my phone.

 

**_Daveed 10:28 am_ **

_ I understand if you’re mad, confused, or possibly a mix of both, but we should at least talk about it and see where it goes. _

 

**_Me 10:30 am_ **

_ Confused is one way to put it but I’m not mad at you. We can meet at my apartment. 1 o’clock _

 

**_Daveed 10:31 am_ **

_ You’re inviting me back to your apartment?  _

 

**_Me 10:32 am_ **

_ 1 o’clock Diggs _

 

*********************

There was enough time for me to be alone with my thoughts for fifteen minutes. I thought by then I would have it all together, but honestly, I had no idea where this was going to go. I was angry, confused, and disappointed. At exactly one o’clock, there was a knock on the door. 

 

“Hey”

 

“Hi Daveed”

 

Just like the first time he came over, he stood in my living room with no idea what to do with himself. The soft smile he usually wore was long gone. He was just as lost as I was.

 

“You can sit down if you want”, I said as I took a seat

 

“Thanks”, he sat down, only a cushion away from me, and finally looked me in the eye, “I’m sorry about  yesterday”

 

“Why did you do it?”, I asked as I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, avoiding eye contact

 

“A mix between being caught in the moment and something I’ve wanted to do for a while”

 

“Y..you’ve wanted to that for a while? What happened to just being friends?”

 

“Of course I still think we should be friends”, he hesitated as he ran his fingers through his hair, “Even if it hasn’t changed how I feel about you. I know how I feel, but I don’t know how you feel about me”

 

In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to just disappear. If we were going to get through this, there is no reason for us to continue on like this. The relationship we have now is just starting to bud and any form of romantic feelings will do ruin everything. 

 

“What were you confused about? Aren’t you the one that said we should work on being friends?”, he asked breaking me out of my silence

 

“Aren’t you the one that agreed to it, then decided to kiss me”, I nearly yelled, “Things are already complicated as is and then you kiss me in the heat of the moment!”

 

_ End it already. _

 

“Maybe I shouldn’t have kissed you last night. Depends on how you look at it. All I know is that I like yo--”

 

_ It’s easier this way. _

 

“I regretted it”, I blurted out

 

“What?”, he gasped as his eyes widened

 

“That kiss never should have happened Daveed. I’m not mad at you, but you shouldn’t have done it. I feel like you should’ve known this by now”

 

“I…”, he squeezed his eyes shut and ran his fingers through his hair again, “Okay (Y/N)”

 

Before I could say anything else, he stepped out, slamming the door behind him. I desperately wanted to run after Daveed to tell him that I wanted to be with him, but everything in me was telling me to let it go. This was for the best.

 

**Day 5**

 

I sat outside the door of Dr. Harris’ office as patiently as I could. In five minutes our session would begin and I had not heard a word from Daveed. Not that I expected him to say anything else to me after last night. 

 

The office door opened and a woman that was about my height stepped out.

 

“Mr. and Mrs. Diggs”, she called as she looked up from her notepad

 

As soon as her eyes landed on me a gush of wind blew in. Daveed stepped in and his eyes immediately fell on me, he was completely unfazed. He shook Dr. Harris’ hand and smiled.

 

“I’m Daveed. This is my wife, (Y/N)”

 

“It’s nice to meet you both. Come on in”, she stepped aside and he let me go in first

 

I took a seat and he made sure to sit two cushions away from me. The second we made eye contact again he sent a glare my way.

 

“You two have an interesting case. Getting married in Vegas without even knowing it and now you have a 30 day trial on your marriage”, she smiled softly as she looked up from her notepad, “What was your initial reaction to finding out you were married?”

 

“(Y/N) found out first. How did it make you feel honey?, he retorted

 

His angry glare never left me, yet it always disappears the moment Dr. Harris looked in his direction. 

 

“I came home after a tough day at work. It felt like everything was going wrong, so imagine my surprise when I found out my one night stand was now my husband. Imaging trying your hardest to forget about him and that amazing night we had, then that happens”

 

“How did you feel?”, she reiterated

 

“I felt stressed, scared, I didn’t know what to do. I thought he didn’t want anything to do with me. He had my number and he chose not to see where it could have took us. I knew he was rejecting me. So, I was pretty hurt too”, I sighed as I fumbled with the bracelet I took off my wrist

 

“Daveed?”

 

“Shocked I guess. We had a good time together and we were going to see where it went, but I convinced myself it wasn’t going to work out. We lived on different sides of the country so I didn’t go through with it. When she contacted me, I saw it as another shot”

 

We spent most of the session filling her in on what happened before we got married, how we felt about each other initially, how we felt about the night after and before we left. Nothing new to us. Although it did make more sense as to why it seemed like Daveed wanted to stay married.

 

“Where is your relationship at the moment?”

 

“What relationship?”, he scoffed

 

“Are you two dating? How has everything played out since you came to New York?”

 

“We decided to be friends, we kissed, she regretted it, here we are”

 

“Is it hard being just friends with her?”

 

“Of course it is. At first, I thought it was best to stay friends, then I started to regret it. My feelings for her haven’t changed and I didn’t know what to do. Then two days ago, I found myself doing something I’ve been waiting to do for a while now and she regrets it”, he sneered, “I felt so stupid for thinking that would work”

 

Silence fell over the room as she looked up from her clipboard, gauging Daveed’s reaction, then mine. He didn’t look her in the face, instead his looked down in his lap. Every remnant of his smile was gone. This was different from the look I initially saw last night. He went from lost to angry and hurt.

 

“How did you react to Daveed kissing you? How did it make you feel?”

 

“I-I…”, my eyes were still on Daveed and nothing came to mind

 

“How did you feel (Y/N)”, he chimed in, “Tell her what you told me”

 

“I did like kissing him, but I told him that he shouldn’t have done it  in the heat of the moment. I regretted kissing him back because everything we agreed on was thrown out the window. How else are we supposed to get through the next month together?”

 

“Maybe we can start by not pretending that we don’t see what’s between us”, he nearly yelled, “You want me to just go back to pretending that I never had feelings for you in the first place”

 

“Oh come on Daveed, we’ve known each other for all of two seconds. What do you honestly think will come of  _ this _ ”, I countered, motioning between us, “Why would I choose to stay married to a complete stranger? This situation is not ideal for either of us, but for some reason you need it to be”

 

For the second time I watched him run his fingers through his hair and squeeze his eyes shut as he let out a pained sigh.

 

“I don’t want this to be ideal for the both of us and I don’t want us to stay married. I wanted you to realize that I didn’t mean to hurt you and saw this as a second chance to see if things would work out together. Yes, we’re married, but I still wanted to see if what happened and what we felt in Vegas was still there. Whether we’re married or not, I still wanted to be with you, but I’m fully aware that I had it all wrong. You’re obviously not the same person”

 

I wasn’t sure what hurt more: the fact that there was no expression on his face or the fact that he wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

 

“I have nothing left to say to her”

 

“We can end early if you want. I’ll see you two in a week”, she smiled softly, yet her eyes betrayed us, deep down she knew neither of us wanted to be in the situation and it was causing issues for the both of us

 

My chest tightened and my vision blurred with unshed tears. I hated that we were in this situation in the first place. In a perfect world, we would be together without the marriage.

 

I got in the elevator, blinking the tears away, and he stepped in beside me. As we descended, the pain in my chest only grew tighter. Seeing the conflicted look on his face made it so much worse. 

 

“Daveed”, I started softly, “ I…”

 

“Save it (Y/N). What else could you possibly have to say? Given that everything you say ends up backfiring and hurting me, how about you just speaking to me all together”, he sneered as he zipped up his coat as the elevator doors opened, “I’ll see you next week,  _ Mrs. Diggs _ ”

 

Seeing his intense glare made me freeze in place. This was the last thing I wanted to do to him.

 

He stepped out of the elevator and disappeared into the crowded street leaving me alone as the guilt seeped in.


	7. Baby Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where panic comes into play.

**Day 15**

Nothing has changed since our first session. The second one wasn’t much better given that Daveed still wasn’t speaking to me. He held true to that even in counselling. She tried to get us to speak to each other, but Daveed, as stubborn as he was, only looked ahead stating that he would talk, just not to me. Of course this made everything far too complicated. He got to leave early and I stayed to talk to Dr. Harris. 

 

_ “What did you initially like about Daveed?”, she asked when he shut the door  _

 

_ “He was sweet and funny and he made me smile. I don’t remember feeling so comfortable around someone in such a short amount of time” _

 

_ “What do you like about him now?” _

 

_ I paused and gauged her reaction. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him at the moment. _

 

_ “Things between us aren’t good so my response is a little biased”, she nodded and waited for me to continue, “He hates me at the moment. I feel like I took that quality from him because he was always so sweet. He was happy until I…I hurt him. I still think about the day after it all happened, when we had breakfast or when he comforted me at my job and it makes me smile. I like that he protects me. In the short time that we’ve known each other, he’s showed me all the ways that he cared about me and I took his feelings and destroyed all of them.” _

 

_ Tissues were placed in my hand as I realized the tears falling down my cheeks. The ache in my chest was unbearable.  _

 

_ “This is all my fault” _

 

_ “No (Y/N). This is nobody's fault. Daveed is willing to show you he cares for you and you’re hesitant to show those emotions. This isn't the time to find someone to place the blame on. This is the time to figure out what’s holding you back”, her reassuring smile was all the convincing I needed  _

 

Daveed and I haven’t spoken in or out of counselling which makes everything far more complicated. I want to work everything out with him, but I’m not sure of my game plan. I wanted to let him know how I felt and explain why I felt that way. I needed him to know that I don’t want him to hurt because of me. For once I needed to be honest with him and tell him the truth.

 

**Day 17**

I spent most of Sunday trying to talk myself out of what I was about to do. I paced in front of his hotel room, heart beating out of my chest. My nerves were starting to get the best of me. Hesitantly, I knocked on the door and waited. Without missing a beat, the door swung open and a women answered.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

“I’m sorry, I may have the wrong room. I’m looking for someone”

 

“It’s alright”, she said giving me a soft smile, “Who are looking for?”

 

“His name is Da-”, my voice was caught in my throat as he came into view

 

His eyes widened as soon as they landed on me. I looked between the two and my eyes burned with tears. He stepped in front of her immediately trying to explain. I took backed away until I hit the wall.

 

“(Y/N) it’s not what you think. I swear it’s not--”

 

“Daveed”, I cut in, “It’s fine. You don’t have to explain anything to me”, I said quietly 

 

I practically ran out the hotel. When I made it home, there were twelve missed calls from Daveed. I threw my phone on the coffee table and pulled my knees to my chest as I sat on the couch. I knew I never stopped caring for Daveed, but my words proved to him otherwise. A part of me felt as if I had it coming because I put him this position in the first place and that’s what hurt the most.

 

**Day 19**

By the time I returned to work, I was completely immersed in it. I came in early to get most of my work done, but soon realized the more I worked, the less I thought about what was, or wasn’t happening with Daveed. I ended up taking on more work loads to avoid being on contact with most of my coworkers. Most of them saw that I was busy so they ended up refraining from asking about my marriage or any other parts of my life. 

 

Ava and Gina started working on another proposal together which has kept them busy and away from me for the most part. With everything that has been going on, I don’t have the strength to rehash what has been going on between me and my  _ husband _ . 

 

My last assignment for the day was gathering information for potential clients. I was halfway finished when the alarm on my phone went off. 

 

_ Counselling at 5:30 pm _

 

My heart dropped into my stomach. I made the decision early on to skip the session and gave Dr. Harris some sad excuse about being sick. I threw my phone back on my desk, partially out of anger for briefly being reminded of him, and dived back into my work. I put on my headphones, completely ignoring the outside world. I was happy with the progress I was making. If I finished before seven, I could probably get started on another assignment. When a hand grabbed my shoulder and I nearly fell out my seat. Ava was staring at me the same way my mother did when she thought I was stretching myself too thin.

 

I snatched my headphones out as I tried to catch my breath, “You scared the hell out of me”

 

“I called you and you weren’t responding”, she glanced at my computer and frowned, “I thought someone else was supposed to do the research for Tolkein Inc.?”

 

“They were behind, so I told them I would do it”, I said as I got back to work

 

“But you already did this for four other companies. That’s way too much. When’s the last time you had a break? Aren’t you supposed to be at counselling right now?”

 

“No, we rescheduled”

 

She grew quiet. She was either thinking of a way to get me away from my computer or she had an inkling that I was lying.

 

“Since you don’t have to go tonight, why don’t you go home and get some sleep. I heard you stayed here late last night”

 

“Ava”, I sighed, “You’re asking so many questions. I’m fine. If it makes you feel better, I won’t stay so late tomorrow night”

 

“What about toni--”

 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine”, I nearly snapped

 

I never noticed that she left the room as I got back to work. My phone started to ring soon after and Daveed’s name flashed across the screen. He called four times, then resorted to texting. I ignored every one.

 

By seven, I was finally finished. All I needed to do was get the papers from the printer, then put them on my boss’ desk. Before I left my office, I decided to check my messages.

 

**_Daveed 6:00pm_ **

_ Dr. Harris said you couldn’t make it because you were sick.  _

 

**_Daveed 6:03pm_ **

_ A part of me really doesn’t believe it, but I hope you’re alright. _

 

**_Daveed 6:15pm_ **

_ I know you’re mad at me, but we really need to talk about what happened a couple days ago. _

 

**_Daveed 6:20pm_ **

_ (Y/N) please let me know that you’re alright. I need to know that you’re okay. _

 

I put my phone back on my desk and took a breath as I made my way to the printer. Everyone had gone home for the night with the exception of Jeremy. His office light was still on and his door was open. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need the printer as well. Ever since he told the office about my nuptials, I hadn’t seen much of him which I was grateful for.

 

Just as I gathered the stack of papers, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. A part of me hoped it was just the janitor, but knowing my luck I knew it wouldn’t be. Jeremy stood behind me, looking through me as if I didn’t matter.

 

“You’re still here”, he scoffed

 

“I’m about to leave”, I said as I made my way to the door

 

He stood in my way, blocking the exit as he glared down at me, “I can’t believe I spent so long pining after you. You’re so...pathetic”

 

_ That is true. You couldn’t even tell Daveed how you felt and now it’s too late. _

 

“You went to Vegas and got so drunk you didn’t even remember marrying a complete stranger. I know people make mistakes in sin city, but c’mon (Y/N) this takes the cake”, he scolded, “And to think they promoted you for being so tenacious and organized, yet they have know idea how much of a screw up you really are”

 

Tears blurred my vision as I desperately tried blinking them away. It was all too much and a few ended up spilling over.

 

“Aww you poor thing”, he mocked as he took a step closer

 

I moved back at his sudden movement and managed to drop the papers. He took another step forward, way too close for my liking. It felt like I was trapped. I squeezed my eyes shut as more tears began to fall. Maybe after he got everything off his chest he would leave me alone for good. 

 

“Seems to me that you’ve been screwing up so much lately. If it were up to me, your ass wouldn’t have been promoted in the first place. (Y/N) why are you so--”

 

“Get away from my wife”, a voice sneered

 

Jeremy moved slightly, but it was enough to see Daveed push him out the way to get to me.

 

“Daveed? Wh--what are you doing here?”

 

“I knew you weren’t sick”, he stated with a small smile, “I was worried about you”

 

Even in all my anguish, seeing his smile still made my heart skip a beat.

 

“Wow”, Jeremy scoffed, “You two are a match made in heaven”

 

Daveed stepped away from me, grabbed Jeremy by his collar, and pulled him close. As tough as he seemed before, having Daveed tower over him was enough to knock him down a couple of pegs. His smirk dropped as he tried to get away.

 

“If I ever catch you near her you near here again, I swear I’m--”

 

“Daveed!”

 

He gripped his collar even tighter, “She may have married me by mistake, but it appears that she dodged a bullet by staying away from you. Keep her name out your mouth”

 

He shoved him away and Jeremy fell into the wall. He regained his composure, quickly making his way out of the room without looking back.

 

“(Y/N)?”, he said softly as he faced me again, “Are you okay?”

 

“Ummm...I have to get these to my boss’ office”, I mumbled as I got on my knees to gather the paper

 

Daveed followed suit. He stopped when he noticed my hands beginning to tremble. He pulled me closer to him and I laid my head in the crook of his neck. The tears hadn’t stopped since Jeremy had got in my face. I hated that what he said get to me, but I knew it was the truth. Daveed squeezed me tighter as if he could read my mind. 

 

“None of this is your fault”, he reassured as he rubbed my back, “Tell me how to fix this so I can get you home baby”

 

In less than ten minutes, the papers were reorganized and neatly placed on my boss’ desk. The Uber ride home was quiet. I leaned into his side as he wrapped his arm around me. Every once in awhile a whimper would escape and he kissed my forehead as he squeezed me tighter mumbling that it would be alright. The Uber pulled in front of my complex and I sat up as Daveed took off his seatbelt.

 

“Can you wait here?”, he asked the driver

 

“Can you stay with me? Please?”

 

The words flew out my mouth before I could register what I was saying. His eyes widened.

 

“Are you sure you want me to? I can just walk you to your door and head home”

 

“I really want you to stay with me. If it’s alright with you”

 

“Okay”

 

It was all he said before stepping out of the car and heading to my apartment. He stepped in with the same amount of hesitation as before. I changed into my pajamas and grabbed some blankets and pillows, then headed back to the living room.

 

“Do you want the couch or bed?”

 

“I’m a guest. There’s no way I’m putting you out of your bed”, he said smiling softly again as he took the blankets out of my hand and placed them on the couch

 

“Are you alright?”, he asked for the thousandth time that night

 

When I didn’t answer he took my hand in his, “You didn’t deserve any of that. He’s pathetic for thinking it was okay to pick on you like that”

 

Having him here felt different this time. I felt comfortable having him here with me. Our encounters in my apartment have never been this calm.

 

“How did you know I was still at work?”

 

“Ava text me before she left the office. She told me you overworked yourself for the past couple of days. She also had an inkling that you didn’t reschedule our session”

 

I groaned and he squeezed my hand, “Have you actually had a good night’s rest since…”

 

“No”, I said quietly

 

“Do you want to get some rest?”

 

“I’m not tired”

 

Daveed eyed me carefully, “Then talk to me until you’re feeling sleepy. We don’t have to talk about anything serious. We can leave that for another time”

 

For the first time in the past few weeks, I found myself smiling. He smiled back and pulled me closer so I was leaning into his side.

 

“What’s your favorite color?”, I asked with a grin

 

“Yellow”

 

“That doesn’t surprise me at all”

 

He laughed and fired another question at me. We went back and forth for about an hour asking simple questions about each other. There was still a little unease thinking about what we had yet to talk about, but for now this was a good place for us.

 

I closed my eyes for a second as I laid on Daveed’s chest. He stiffened for a moment before wrapping his arms around me as I dozed off. 

 

When I woke up the next morning, I was under the covers in my bed. I pulled myself out of bed and made my way to the living room to check on Daveed, who was still asleep with a small smile on his face. I was glad to see the smile had returned. I walked back to my room, prepared to get ready for the shower when I decided to look out my window. To my surprise the street and sidewalk were buried in snow that continued to fall. My stomach began to flip as I realized Daveed was going to be here longer than expected.

 


	8. Tell the Truth

 

**Day 20**

 

Daveed was laying across the couch snoring softly. I needed to wake him up to tell him he was stuck with me, but it wouldn’t change anything if I didn’t. I took my time taking a shower and getting ready, mentally preparing myself for the conversation we would have later. By the time I stepped out of my bedroom, he was pulling himself off the couch.

 

He stood, stretching and grinning as his eyes landed on me.

 

“Good morning”

 

“Morning”

 

“Do you have any plans for today? I won’t stay longer than you want me to”, he yawned 

 

“Well...you're going to be here longer than expected anyway”, I said as I pointed to the window

 

He stepped to the window and peaked outside, “Dammit. Did you know it was supposed to snow today?”

 

“No. Apparently it was supposed to start last night. With everything that happened, I’m not surprised we didn’t notice”

 

Daveed nodded and looked everywhere but my face. He knew we had to talk eventually, but he probably wasn’t in a rush given what happened last night. 

 

“You can use my shower if you want”, I said to break the silence, “It’s not like you’re going anywhere anytime soon”

 

“I feel like I’m in Misery”, he said with a smirk

 

A smile spread across my face as I started to laugh, “I change my mind. You can trek through the snow and make your way to your hotel”

 

“I’m just joking”, he paused as that same soft smile appeared, “Where is your shower?”

 

I quickly pointed him in the right direction. The same feeling I’ve been trying to avoid for weeks was back, but for once I didn’t wasn’t it to stop. About thirty minutes into making breakfast, the bathroom door opened as he called my name.

 

“Yeah?”, I answered as I came around the corner

 

As soon as I saw him, I stopped in my tracks. He stood at the entrance of the bathroom door, his towel hanging dangerously low off his hips.

 

“Uhh...I didn’t think you were going to come down the hall. I don’t have any other clothes to put on”

 

“(Y/N)?”, he called again

 

He waved his hand in my face, “My face is up here”

 

As he smirked, my entire face started to burn and I ran to my room. I threw him the only thing I had that could probably fit him, then went back to the kitchen. 

 

“Really?”, he called as I disappeared around the corner

 

A few minutes later, he entered the kitchen in the unicorn onesie my mother bought me that was a few sizes too large. I never went back to exchange it for a smaller size, but it certainly serves its purpose now. 

 

“Why do you have this?”, he grinned

 

“My mother got that for me not too long ago. I haven’t had the chance to take it back”, I answered as I flipped another pancake, “You can keep it. It looks nice on you”

 

Daveed blushed as he walked out the kitchen to fold the blankets. He turned the TV on and most of the news stations were telling us that the snow wouldn’t stop coming down until tomorrow morning. Everything was closed until the snow stopped which wouldn’t be for another day or two. 

 

We finished eating and cleaning in silence. The tension hung heavy in the air, but neither of us were prepared to bring it up. Most of the morning was spent watching cartoons and reminiscing about our childhoods and past relationships when he turned the TV off and turned to face me.

 

“The women you saw a few days ago”, he paused, waiting to see if I was ready to begin

 

When I nodded, he continued, “I know it looked pretty bad, it was bad, but she’s a friend that Rafa and I hang with when we’re in New York. She helps with the workshop, we make music together, and we’re very close”, he paused again to gauge my reaction, “When I stormed out of our session, I was convinced myself that I needed to distract myself from you by finding someone else. So I told her to come over. The second she tried to kiss me, I told her to stop. We spent majority of the day talking about how I felt about you and that  I wanted things to work out between us when our marriage is annulled. She kept telling me to go to you, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it”

 

“Why?”, I asked quietly

 

“I hurt you.”

 

I sat quietly as I waited for him to continue. The idea of him with another woman drove me insane, yet I knew I had no right to be upset when he wasn’t mine to begin with. The only person who’s lied so far between the two of us was me. I believed him.

 

“I didn’t think that after ignoring you again, you would want to speak to me. You have every right to be mad at me”

 

I sighed before finally looking him in his eyes, “Daveed, you have every right to be mad at  _ me _ . Ever since you got here, I’ve done everything I could to get you to understand how I felt and I thought that the best way to get you to understand was by hurting you when I knew you had feelings for me. There were probably about a thousand different ways I could have got my point across, but I convinced myself that was my best option”

 

“You say you don’t have feelings for me because I know you’re only saying it to push me away. It helps you somehow and that hurts knowing that I can’t change that”, he said softly

 

I sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair. Somehow the conversation made the tension feel even worse. I knew what I needed to say to him, it was just a matter of being brave enough to actually say it. I distanced myself from him once again as I got off the couch, pacing back and forth.

 

“Why are you so calm about this? Why aren’t you upset with me?”, I huffed 

 

“Why did you come to my hotel?”

 

“Dav--”

 

“Why did you come to my hotel?”, he challenged, “A few days ago, when I kissed you, you kissed me back. You keep letting me in, then pushing me out again”, he moved himself from the couch and made his way to me, “You’re confused about all of this and I am too. We can figure this out together, if you decide to be honest with me”

 

He took another step closer, intertwining his fingers in mine. My heart was no longer beating at a steady pace. Our noses brushed against each other, the tension no longer suffocating us.

 

“(Y/N), we can do this. Just tell me, why were you--?”

 

“I needed to tell you that…”

 

“Tell me what?”, he asked softly

 

Suddenly, I was reminded of the same feeling I tried to push away every time we spent time together and when he kissed me. It was the same feeling that I felt a this moment. Everything was telling me to take that leap and kiss him.

 

I brushed my nose against his and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer by wrapping his arm around my waist. His eyes fluttered shut with my lips barely touching his. My lips melted on to his. I tangled my fingers in his hair and he pulled me as close as he possibly could. I back him into the couch, until I was straddling his thighs. My tongue slid into his mouth and he groaned against me. I pulled away when my lungs would no longer take it. 

 

“I wanted to tell you that I didn’t regret kissing you. When you kissed me, it felt like things were falling into place and that scared me. We had a plan and when it went in a different direction, I panicked...I like you”

 

“I like you too”, he grins

 

I find myself returning his grin, “I want you in my life Daveed, even after we’re no longer married. Let’s see where this goes and work it out together”

 

“I like the sound of that”, he beamed as I rest my head on his shoulder

 

We sat with our fingers still intertwined, watching and laughing at cheesy Hallmark films. By the end of the night, he nodded off and I didn’t bother leaving the couch. As soon as my head touched his chest, he wraps his arms around me refusing to let go. 

 

**Day 21**

 

The next day and another onesie later, I walked into the living room, my arms full of games.

 

“I have Life, Monopoly, Uno, playing cards, checkers, and Twister”

 

“I’m ready to kick your butt in Uno”, he bubbled

 

“Bring it on Diggs”

 

Twenty minutes and three games later. I had two cards left compared to his twelve. He groaned as I placed another card on the pile.

 

“Uno”, I grinned

 

“Can we play another game?”

 

“You said best two out of three and after this game, I’ll be the winner”, I cheered as he put down another card

 

“Uno out”

 

He threw his cards on the table, shaking his head at me. I danced around the table and his scowl turned into a smirk. 

 

“Don’t be a sore loser”, I scolded, sitting close enough to lean my head on his shoulder

 

“If me losing means getting to see you dance like that, then it was worth it”

 

Daveed kissed my forehead and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

 

“What’s next? Since you lost, you can choose the next game”

 

His eyes lit up as he eyed the games thrown across the floor. He walked over to the pile and immediately picked up a box.

 

“I haven’t played this game in a while”

 

The two of us were on the twister mat with Daveed’s hands and feet touching the corners of the mat. If he pushed himself up any further it would be a perfect bridge. I was leaning over him. I spun the dial again.

 

“Left foot red”, I groaned  

 

For a moment, I didn’t move. Daveed laughed at my predicament. My left foot was currently placed on green. 

 

“There’s no way you’re gonna win this time”, he grinned

 

“What makes you think I’m going to lose?”

 

“You have to move your leg and put it on the other side of the mat. How can you do that without falling?”

 

He had a point, but I would never admit it to him. I looked down at his wide grin. He was ready for a win and I refused to give him the satisfaction. The second I brushed my nose against his, the grin disappeared. 

 

“W-what are you doing?”, he sputtered

 

“Nothing”, I cooed as I kissed the corner of his mouth

 

His body shook beneath me as I kissed him again and pressed my body against his. He wrapped one arm around me, then fell to the ground with his lips still on mine. I indulged for a couple of seconds before pulling away quickly and began to laugh at his confused grin.

 

“See what happens when you underestimate me?”, I said as I got off the floor, “Looks like you lose again Diggs”

 

He glared at me as he got off the floor, “You’re not getting away with that”

 

I slowly backed away and he took a step closer until I turned on my heels and ran as fast as I could to my room. My attempt to crawl over my bed to reach the other side was thwarted when he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. I shrieked as he pulled me closer. 

 

As soon as I turned on my back, his fingers are digging themselves into my sides and a laugh escaped my lips.

 

“Stop”, I gasped, trying to catch my breath

 

“Not until you say you’re sorry”

 

He flipped me on my back as he continued tickling me, “No”

 

“Oh really?”

 

He reached up and tickled me under my arm. I screamed even louder.

 

“All you have to do is apologize”, he whispered in my ear

 

“Okay, I’m sorry”, I gasped as I squeezed my legs together

 

Daveed, nearly on top of me, held himself up by his forearms. His eyes were on my lips and a shy smile spread across his face. I placed my fingers on his shoulders and smiled back as I pulled him in for a kiss. My legs wrapped around his waist as he fell on top of me. 

 

He began to kiss down my jawline to my neck. When he found my spot, I pushed my hips up to meet his. He groaned against my neck as his hips met mine. 

 

“Daveed”, I moaned

 

Immediately he stopped, pulling away from my lips and lifting himself up again.

 

“What’s wrong?”, I asked 

 

He was quiet for a moment, contemplating what he needed to say next. 

 

“Should we be doing this? I want to, but won’t this make things more complicated?”

 

I sighed as I unwrapped my legs from his hips, “You’re right. I want to to too, but now isn’t the time”

 

“We’ll get there at some point”, he grinned as he kissed me again, “I’ll see you in the morning”

 

He was already off of me and headed for the door. Seeing him walk out the door reminded of all the times he left whenever we were fighting, which was quite often. I wanted him near me.

 

“You can stay in here...if you want”, I blurt out

 

Daveed stopped in his tracks and eyed me skeptically, “You sure about that?”

 

“Yeah. We can set boundaries if you want”

 

“Boundaries”, he laughed, “For sleeping?”

 

“Don’t want to make you uncomfortable”, I mumbled 

 

He grinned as he jumped on my bed, occupying the other side. He was on his side facing me.

 

“How about we stay on our sides of the bed? No touching”

 

“I can work with that”

 

He smiled and leaned forward to kiss me again, “Goodnight (Y/N)”

 

“I thought you said no touching”

 

I laughed as he glared at me, “Goodnight Daveed”

 

**Day 22**

 

As I started to wake up, I noticed that the snow finally stopped falling. In a day or two, I would be back at work, meaning that Daveed would be going back to his hotel soon. Maybe he would be up for another sleepover during his stay.

 

I heard a soft snore next to my ear and froze. As I remembered agreeing to share my bed with Daveed, I realized his arm was around my waist, tethering me to him and the bed. I slowly tried to get up, but he pulled me back. He moved closer and buried his nose into my neck. As he got comfortable, something hard was resting against my butt. I blushed the moment I realized what it was. Squirming to get out of his hold proved to be futile as I tried to get out of his grip, he pushed his hips against me. In my attempt to move away, I pushed my hips against his. He groaned and began to stir.

 

“Daveed”, I breathed

 

He pushed his hips against mine again and froze before jumping off the bed, apologizing profusely and trying to cover himself up.

 

“It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean to”, I said as calm as possible, trying to hide my blush

 

“But we said no touching and I feel like--”

 

“Like it’s something you’ve wanted to do for a while now and acted on it without thinking about it?”, he looked horrified and I couldn’t help but laugh, “You’re not the only one whose thought about it. Like I said it’s fine”

 

“You’ve thought if it before?”, he questioned

 

“We woke up naked with no memory of what happened the night before. Of course at some point I’ve wondered what the sex was like”, I said with another blush, “I’m sure you have too”

 

He finally sat on the bed again, not as close as before, “Yeah, I have actually. Before we spent the day with you, Ava, and Gina that morning, I had a dream about us”

 

“The day after we kissed, I had a dream about us too”

 

“Can I ask what happened?”

 

We both made eye contact and smiled as he laid on his side facing me. I decided to follow suit.

 

“You guys had just finished filming your movie. Everyone else was partying, but we were in our own little bubble, like in Las Vegas”, I said nervously, “There was a lot of kissing and giggling and smiling”

 

My blush took over as I avoided all eye contact. He was eyeing me with much curiosity and a soft smile on his face.

 

“You pulled me into a room and sat me down on the couch. Your lips met mine again until you started kissing my neck, down my chest. Then you were between my legs. I was so close until I woke up and realized Gina and Ava were in the room with me”

 

Daveed’s hand was under my chin, gently shifting my view to his face, “Don’t be embarrassed when we’re both in the same boat. I dreamt about us having sex that night in Vegas. You were on top and bossing me around. I liked it a little too much”

 

We were slowly moving closer to each other. His arm wrapped around my waist as our noses touched. He smirked as I bit my lip.

 

“I’m probably the least bossy person you know”, I quipped

 

“I know. That’s what made it so sexy”

 

I pulled him in for another kiss, knowing exactly what I wanted. He groaned as pulled his hair and ground my pelvis against his. Before he could get into it, he pulled away.

 

“We said no to sex, right?”, he panted

 

“We did”

 

“We can stop”

 

“What if we continue without actually having sex?”, I pondered

 

He raised his eyebrow, not having a clue what I was referring to until I told him to lay on his back and straddled him. I kissed him again as soon as I felt his length rising against my thigh. I shifted my hips until it was it rested against my core. I slowly moved my hips against him, feeling him rub against me through the fabric of my pajama shorts. 

 

“Shit”, he groaned as squeezed my hips even tighter

 

I moaned as he rubbed against my clit. My hands were on his chest to keep myself from falling over. Eventually, he pulled me into a rough kiss, leaving me speechless while he picked up the pace. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled, giving me access to his neck. He began to shake while I kissed down his jawline to his neck. Once I found his sweet spot, I sucked on his neck.

 

“(Y/N)”, he whimpered as I sucked harder, “Fuck”

 

I pulled him into another kiss before smiling down at him, “Is this close to your dream?”

 

Daveed smirked at me, then squeezed his eyes shut as I barely held on. I was so close, but a part of me wanted more. 

 

“Daveed”, I moaned, “I’m so close. I’m…”

 

Words failed to come out as I flew closer to the edge. I placed my hands on his chest again to pick up the pace and he pushed his hips to match my speed. I nearly screamed as my orgasm washed over me and Daveed followed suit. He was trying to speak as he came down from his high, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

 

I fell onto his chest, trying to catch my breath. His heart was beating out of control, just like mine. When I looked up at him, he was staring at me in adoration which prompted me to quickly looked away.

 

“You’re feeling shy after what we just did?”

 

“A little”

 

He shifted himself to lay on his side with me leaning into his chest. Daveed kissed my cheek, then my lips.

 

“I’m glad it snowed this week. I like spending time with you (Y/N)”

 

“Me too Daveed. You’re welcome to come over again for another sleepover...if you want”

 

“This is a big change from you not wanting me in your house”, he laughed, “I would love to, but I think we need to take a shower. You can go first”

 

I hopped off the bed to head to the bathroom. When I turned around, Daveed was still laying down with his eyes on the ceiling and a smile spread across his face. In that moment, he looked content. After finally reconciling with him, I knew I felt the same way.

  
  



	9. The Only Thing That Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My poor attempt at smut is in the beginning of this chapter.

**Day 25**

 

My fingers gripped the sheets as Daveed slowly swiped his tongue against my clit. His hands were anchoring my waist to the bed, gripping tighter every time I tried to grind against him for more friction.

 

“(Y/N), if you keep at it I might have to stop all together. Is that what you want?”, he grinned

 

“N...no”, I groaned

 

He gently sucks my clit, humming in approval as I finally keep my hips still. It takes everything in me to do so. We’ve been playing around since early this morning before he revealed that he wanted to eat me out. 

 

For most of the weekend, we kept our distance. That was until Sunday night.

 

Daveed left to get more food for the house. Thinking he would be away for an hour or so, I lay in my bed, legs spread with my mind stuck on riding him. Before I could reach my climax, my bedroom door popped open. His eyes were immediately on my dripping core. We were both aware of the line we weren’t supposed to cross. He groaned softly as he left, waiting for me to finish in the living room. Later that night, I heard him quietly moaning my name while he was in the shower. The second I woke up, he was kissing my neck and rubbing my thighs, asking to eat me out. 

 

I softly moaned his name, feeling myself nearing the edge. He slipped two fingers in as he sucked my clit even harder. As he pressed into my g spot, my orgasm hit me harder than expected. My vision went white as my body continued to shake. He continued eating me out and kissing my inner thighs until I came down from my high.

 

“You have to get ready for work”, he mentioned quietly as he kissed my shoulder and neck

 

“No”, I pouted

 

“No? You have to go to work baby. You just got a promotion”

 

He placed more kisses on my neck and cheek until I spoke again.

 

“And we just got together”, I countered

 

His expression softened as he took in what I said.

 

“How about I come back here when we finish with work or I could meet you at your job if I finish early?”

 

I nodded before kissing then got up to get in the shower. The last thing on my mind was work. I hadn’t thought about Jeremy or what happened last week at all. I was too wrapped up in Daveed. I had no intention on seeing Jeremy again.

 

I strolled into the office thirty minutes late, greeting everyone with a smile on my face. Jeremy sees me at the end of the hall, but keeps it moving. Good.

 

Gina is waiting by my office door when I finally arrive.

 

“Where the hell have you been?”

 

“Did I miss anything?”

 

“No, but you’re always early for work. What happened? Why are you smiling so hard?”

 

She grinned because she already knew.

 

“Did you see Daveed?”, she gasped, “It snowed all week. You got snowed in with your husband, didn’t you?”

 

I giggled as I unlocked my office and let her in. The second she said his name, all the events from Thursday until this morning flooded my memory.

 

“Don’t spill anything yet. Ava is on her way”

 

We talked about how they spent the weekend until Ava excitedly ran into my office and shut the door.

 

“Tell us everything”

 

I started from me hurting Daveed to ignoring each other to Jeremy, then to the weekend we spent together and this morning. By the time I finished, both Gina and Ava were blushing.

 

“So that’s why you’re glowing”, Ava laughed

 

“Yeah and if he gave her that dick this morning, she would have came in here glowing as bright as the damn sun”, Gina smirked

 

I nearly spit my coffee out and Ava fell over in her chair.

 

“You’re right though”, I said as my laughter died down, “Everything feels different with him now. After it’s all said and done, I want to work on having a relationship with him. Even if it’s long distance”

 

Ava and Gina smiled, knowing that I was finally happy after everything that happened in the past month. When my office door opened slowly, their smiles disappeared.

 

Jeremy peaked his head through nervously as his eyes landed on me. He tried to puff out his chest to make himself appear sizable compared to us.

 

“Good morning (Y/N). Ava. Gina”

 

Gina rolled her eyes, mumbling something under her breath, undoubtable cursing him out. Ava remained still, showing no expression at all.

 

“I need the notes from the meeting that you printed out last week”

 

“You mean last week when you harassed her until she had a panic attack?”, Ava scolded

 

His eyes widened as he looked between the three of us, “Tell me Jeremy, what would you have done to (Y/N) if her husband hadn’t stepped in?”

 

“First of all, he put in hands on m--”

 

“First of all you harassing a fellow employee who happened to be his wife. His actions were justified and yours were not”, she chastised 

 

“But--”

 

“There’s no need to discuss this any further, you’ll be hearing from HR very shortly and I doubt you’ll still have a job after the stunt you pulled last week.”

 

He turned to me, eyes stone cold, ready to say something.

 

“Please get out my office”, I affirmed, shocking all of them, “If you somehow are still employed after last week, then we can discuss boundaries and proper etiquette when it comes to dealing with coworkers. Until then, I don’t see any point of you being anywhere near me or my office because it isn’t helping your case. Have a nice day Mr. Davis”

 

He looked at me, stunned, frozen in place.

 

“You heard her. Get out”, Gine reiterated 

 

With that being said, he left my office with his head down, shutting the door behind him.

 

“The nerve of him coming in here, acting like he wasn’t tormenting you last week. Daveed should’ve torn him to shreds. I would have helped”, Gina professed

 

“Are you alright with him being here for the time being?”, Ava asked as the room grew silent

 

“I’ll be fine. I’m not afraid of him”

 

They both smiled as they left my office and I got back to work. 

 

For the next few hours, I actually got my work done with no distractions. I didn’t feel as stressed as I normally did. As I logged out of my computer, I longed to get outside to get a breath of fresh air. Just as I grabbed my purse, my phone vibrated.

 

**_Daveed 5:30 pm_ **

_ Are you getting off on time today? _

 

**_Me 5:31 pm_ **

_ Surprisingly, yes _

 

**_Daveed 5:31 pm_ **

_ Okay. I’ll see you in a few. _

 

I stepped outside to see Daveed standing near the front door with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“I’ve realized our relationship is out of order. We had sex, then realized we were married, became friends, stopped being friends, now we’re sort of dating?”

 

I laughed at his description. He hit the nail right on the head. Our relationship was far from normal.

 

“I also realized that we’ve never been on a date”

 

I stopped smiling as it dawned on me, “No, we haven’t”

 

“Let’s change that. (Y/N) will go out on a date with me tonight?”

 

“Nah”, I stated as his smile faltered a little, “I’m actually waiting for my husband to arrive”

 

“Oh, you’re married? He must be pretty amazing to end up with someone like you”, he grinned

 

“Eh, he’s alright”, I giggled

 

His smile faltered again as he began to laugh, “Why did I even marry you?”

 

“Because we were drunk out of our minds?”

 

He handed me the flowers as he kissed me. He intertwined his fingers with mine and pulled me away from my office and we made our way into the city. For as long I lived here, I knew the possibilities were endless for the places he could take me.

 

My heart filled with joy as we reached the Gershwin theater.

 

“We...we’re going to see…”

 

“Surprise”, he boasted as we reached the poster for Wicked

 

“How did you know?”

 

“I might have done a little snooping”

 

“Ava?”, he shook his head, “Gina”, he shook his head again

 

“Well not entirely. I was looking at your records and the Wicked record had the most wear and tear. I did ask and they confirmed”

 

This was one of the sweetest gestures anyone has done for me. I pulled him in wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him in the middle of the sidewalk. He grabbed my waist and happily responded.

 

Before we could go in, a few people stopped for autographs and pictures. Many of them asked if we were dating and he awkwardly tried to answer their questions without giving away too much. I laughed at his response, but when they directed their questions to me, I responded in the same awkward fashion.

 

“It’s like you two were made for each other”, a woman said as she prepared to leave with her friends. They smiled as he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the theater.

 

As the final act ended, I was a ball of nerves and excitement. 

 

“This was my first time seeing it live”, I said quietly as we made our way to the next destination

 

“Really? I would have thought you’ve seen it at least twice with the way you lip synced all the songs”

 

“You saw that?”

 

“I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you. You looked like you were having a lot of fun”, he confessed

 

“I was. Thank you for taking me”

 

“Anything for you”, he grinned as he kissed my cheek

 

I couldn’t understand why I was still a blushing mess around him. After everything we’ve been through, he still gave me butterflies. 

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“There’s a grocery store down the street from your house”

 

“Oooo fancy”

 

He smirked, “I figured since it’s so cold out and it’s getting late, I could make you dinner at your place and I’ll go back to my hotel after”

 

“What did I do to deserve you?”

 

“You sort of stole something in Vegas”, he chuckled as he stepped closer

 

“If you say you’re heart, I might puke”

 

“Wow, way to ruin the moment (Y/N)”, he said, taking a step back

 

“Thank you. Thank you. I’m here all week”, I smiled back as I took a small bow, “Let’s get to the grocery store and back inside where it’s warm”

 

We made our way back to my apartment and dumped the ingredients on the counter. 

 

“I might not be a great chef, but I can make a mean---”

 

“Macaroni and cheese?”

 

He glared at me as a smirk spread across me face, “What? That was funny”

 

“I will do anything to get you to stay away from Tumblr”, he groaned

 

“It’s too late. I’ve had it for a week and I think I have a problem”

 

He began to smile at me once again as I covered my blush.

 

“All this time we’ve spent together and you’re still blushing around me?”

 

Daveed stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me. His face was buried in my neck, placing soft kisses wherever he could.

 

“Yo...you still give me butterflies...from time to time”, I managed to get out

 

He grinned against my skin, “I still get butterflies around you too. You’re smart. Beautiful. Funny.”, he murmured, driving each point with a kiss to my neck and cheek

 

I giggled as he made his way to my lips and wrapped my arms around him. He pushed my back against the fridge and kissed all over my face until my stomach began to growl. He pulled away slowly, even as I pouted.

 

“Dinner won’t take long. Change into something warm”, he reassured as he kissed my forehead

 

I made no attempt to cover my blushed this time as I made my way to my room to change my clothes. I rushed to change into that same oversized onesie he wore his first night here. From my spot on the couch, I could see him busy in the kitchen and still see the TV. He hummed softly as he cooked, the corner of his lips turned upwards. The TV played in the background and I couldn’t even focus on what was actually playing. He looked up to see me staring at him, there was a smile on my face that mirrored his. Daveed winked, then went back to cooking.

 

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting in front of the TV with empty plates, smiles still on our faces.

 

“For a first date, this was pretty nice”

 

“Pretty nice?”

 

“Okay”, I laughed, “It was a great first date. I’m glad you took me out tonight”

 

I get up to clean the kitchen and half way through, I realize Daveed is asleep on the couch. He was trying to stay awake, but eventually sleep too over. By the time I finished, his snores were drowning out the Sound of Music.

 

“Daveed”, I called as I shook his shoulder

 

He stretched, realizing where he was and stood up, “Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow”

 

“Stay here”

 

He paused before he could put his coat on, “Are you inviting me to stay again?”

 

“Only because it’s late and cold. Can’t have you outside by yourself”, I said as I stepped closer

 

“Is that so?”, he grinned as our noses touched

 

We kissed again in the middle of my living room with nothing stopping us.

 

“Let’s get to bed (Y/N). You have work tomorrow”

 

I squealed as he picked me up bridal style and carried me to my room. Daveed pulled me close as soon as we got in bed. It didn’t take me long to doze off in his arms and he followed suit. 

 

**Day 27**

 

We sat in the lobby of Dr. Harris’ office. Our last session was in ten minutes and in three days we would no longer be married.

 

“Nervous?”, Daveed asked

 

“Just a little. You think she’ll be mad about me lying to get out of our session?”

 

“She already knew”, he laughed as he took my hand, “It was pretty obvious with me ignoring you and all. She said you needed time”

 

“Did she tell you to talk to me?”

 

He paused for a moment, “She told me that we were in a difficult situation and the more we talk about it, the more we’ll understand where the other was coming from”

 

“Dr. Harris wasn’t wrong”, I mused

 

“(Y/N) and Daveed”, she called as we entered her office

 

She smiled warmly as we sat down, still holding hands.

 

“This is big difference from our last session. What happened after you left Daveed?”, she asked trying to hide her grin

 

“We talked and everything worked out”

 

“Oh”, she gasped, “You’re going to have to give me a little more than that. What happened (Y/N)? We missed you”

 

I knew she didn’t mean any harm by her statement. We always felt comfortable being in her office.

 

“I may have lied about not being able to come with Daveed ignoring me in all. Not that it was his fault for that. I would have reacted the same way”

 

“And I told her my behav--”, he started 

 

“Daveed, I know you say that me reacting the way I did was justified, but I know it isn’t. You forgave me because you’re still interested in me. Any other person looking in from the outside of this relationship would agree.”

 

I paused before she nodded, wanting me to continue.

 

“I decided to stay late at work and Jeremy, my coworker, started harassing me. I felt myself starting to panic, but he wouldn’t stop. He enjoyed it. Before he could get any further, I heard someone say ‘Get away from my wife’. Daveed scared the hell out of him. He’s probably going to get fired now that Ava knows”

 

“Good. He deserves it and far more”, he scoffed

 

“What? You plan on finding out where he lives now?”

 

“After what he did to you, I definitely would”, he said as he kissed the palm of my hand and inner wrist

 

My heart stopped at his actions. He slowly removed his lips from my wrist, face flush with embarrassment. He caught my gaze as he rubbed his thumb against my hand. With a wink and a smirk, he popped our little bubble.

 

“You have to continue your story”, he said softly

 

I stuttered momentarily, trying to figure out where I left off. Dr. Harris smiled at our actions.

 

“Daveed ended up bringing me home and I didn’t want to be alone, so I asked him to stay the night”

 

“Did you two share a bed?”, she inquired

 

“No he slept on the couch. The next day, was the snowstorm so we were trapped for a couple of days and he decided to stay once the snow was cleared from the streets. I told him that I wanted to be with him and regretted everything I did to him. He told me how he felt and we...we kissed”

 

“Did you now?”, she prodded, “What else happened after this kiss?”

 

“We didn’t go any further than that”, Daveed laughed at her expression, “We just confessed our feelings and decided to take our time. The day after we played games and the next morning we…”

 

Dr. Harris raised an eyebrow, expecting him to continue.

 

“We didn’t actually have sex. We both wanted to, but we decided to...umm…”

 

I giggled as Daveed danced around the subject. His eyes screamed help me to the tenth degree.

 

“The term he’s looking for is dry humping”, I simply stated

 

“Okay. Did it go any further than that? You don’t have to give me all the details”

 

“Just oral”

 

She went over her notes in silence before she turned to a clean page.

 

“Do you plan on staying married after your thirty days are over?”

 

“No”

 

“Not a chance”

 

“You’re both on the same page now. That’s a lot of progress from the first few meetings. I’m happy to see where this takes the two of you”, she smiled again, “What changed your mind Daveed?”

 

“In the end, I still get to be with (Y/N). We’ve decided to take our time and see where this takes us. We went on our first date a few days ago”

 

“That’s good to hear. How do you feel about everything coming to an end (Y/N)?”

 

“I’m glad that it’ll be over. It pushed us out of our comfort zones, which was new to me. We’ll take our time from now on because I want to see where this goes”

 

She took her final notes as Daveed kissed my cheek, making me giggle.

 

Daveed walked me to my door after our session, still holding my hand. He was quiet the entire way here, avoiding all eye contact with me.

 

“Are you alright?”, I asked as I reached for my keys, “You’ve been awfully quiet”

 

The moment I looked up, my back was pressed against the door and his fingers were in my hair. His lips touched mine hesitantly until I kissed back. There we stood in the middle of the hall, engulfed in a fervent kiss. I moaned as his tongue slipped in my mouth. His soft lips, the scent of his cologne, and his hands gripping my waist were the prime reason for my heart nearly beating out of my chest. He pressed himself against me, caging me in. My arms wrapped around his neck.

 

Anyone could’ve walked down the hall to see us making out like teenagers, but we never cared. I groaned as he kissed down my neck and finally pulled away from me. Trying to catch his breath. 

 

“What was that for?”, I gasped

 

“I’m not sure, but I’ve wanted to do it all day.”, he beamed, “I’ll see you tomorrow (Y/N)”

 

His kissed me again and gave me a shy smile. For a moment, I forgot how to speak. When I opened my mouth, nothing came out, much to his amusement.

 

“Bye Daveed”, I sang, “Let me know that you got to your hotel”

 

“Of course”, he mimicked my tone as he leaned in to kiss my cheek then my forehead

 

“What is making you so affectionate today?”

 

“I’m just...happy”, he said as his eyes softened

 

“I’m happy too”

 

He pulled me close, squeezing me tight before he made his way to his hotel. That night, being with Daveed was the only thing on my mind.

 

**Day 30 Saturday**

 

“Should we be celebrating?”, Gina asked as we reached the courthouse 

 

“A part of me feels like we should. You’ve both been through a lot in the past month and you managed to get through it. Both of you seem happier than before, so yeah, we should celebrate”, Ava reasoned

 

“Without getting drunk because you might wake up married again and if that’s the case y’all might as well stay married”

 

I glared at Gina before we stepped inside. Daveed was talking to Rafa when he saw us making our way towards him.

 

“Wow, you’re late again. Do you not like this courthouse?”, Daveed smirked

 

“Not at all. This place is the worst”

 

“It can’t be that bad”, he winked, “After all it--”

 

“Mr. and Mrs. Diggs”, Mr. Morgan called, waving us over, “I haven’t seen you in about thirty days”

 

He laughed, but none of us joined in, “Sorry. Please follow me. We just started the video call with Judge Nelson”

 

We sat in the same room where we first heard we would have to stay married. Dr. Harris was sitting on the same side as Mr. Morgan with the laptop facing us.

 

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Diggs”, Judge Nelson chirped

 

I groaned, rolling my eyes. Daveed and Dr. Harris laughed. I didn’t see myself getting used to that name any time soon.

 

“How have the past thirty days been treating you?”

 

Daveed and I both looked at each other, a hint of a smile on our faces. He took my hand like he always did and spoke to Judge Nelson.

 

“The past thirty days have been a living hell”

 

“Daveed”, I chastised 

 

“Here me out”, he smirked, “We were terrible at communicating and we hurt each other in ways that I couldn’t imagine. It put us through a lot for two people who only met a month ago, but at the same time I’m glad it happened”

 

I squeezed his hand, “If this didn’t happen, then we would have never gotten our second chance. It started off rocky, but whatever we have at the moment is stronger than ever”

 

“Dr. Harris was telling me that. She said you both missed separate sessions”

 

“Yeah, we did. At some point, we couldn’t stand being near each other. I started ignoring her completely, not understanding why she reacted the way she did in the beginning”

 

“And I somehow thought that hurting him was the best way to keep him away from me, even though I knew I had feelings him”, I chimed in

 

Judge Nelson took a moment, eyeing the both of us quietly, “The annulment is up to you. You have made plenty of progress. Would you like to stay mar--”

 

“No”, we said in unison

 

Dr. Harris covered her mouth, trying to hide her laughter.

 

“Okay. I’ll grant you you’re annulment. It will take three weeks to be processed and finalized. Good luck Mr. and Mrs...Mr. Diggs and Ms. (Y/N)”, Judge Nelson finished

 

We all said our goodbyes after finishing with the paperwork. It shouldn’t take too long, given that we never had any shared assets. 

 

Soon we were sitting in my apartment with our friends. Ever since we left the courthouse, they tried not to hound us with questions, but currently, they were failing miserably.

 

“So you’re staying in a relationship?”, Gina asked

 

“It’s not really a relationship at the moment”, I started

 

“But whatever it is we’re working on it”, he smiled

 

“We have to go back to California in a few days. What are you going to do about that?”, Rafa questioned as he eyed us expectantly

 

“We’re still working on it. It’s a lot to take in at the moment”, I responded

 

They all agreed and watched us with smiles on their faces. Daveed and I had a habit of creating our own bubble no matter where we were. As long as he was there, it was all I needed. He smiled down at me, moving in to kiss my cheek when Rafa and Gina groaned.

 

“Oh my God. We don’t need a recap of Vegas”

 

“Get a room”

 

“Well y’all are in  _ my _ apartment”

 

“Fair enough”, Ava giggled, “Let’s leave the future divorcees to themselves...make sure you take the liquor”

 

We laughed as they filed out of my home, leaving Daveed and I to ourselves. My head rested on his shoulder, while he barely focused on the TV.

 

“I’m going to miss you, you know?”, he said softly

 

“You act like you’ll never see or hear from me again”

 

“I know. It’s just that I’ve enjoyed spending this month with you, especially the past couple of weeks”

 

“I did too, but that doesn’t mean we can’t stay in touch. I told you before, I really want to see where this is headed. I’m sure I have vacation time coming up in a few months. I can come see in California. I’ve never been there before”, I mused

 

“You’ve never been to California?”

 

“Vegas was the first time I left the east coast”

 

“You’re joking”, he said in a mock hurt tone, “Well when you come I’ll give you the grand tour”

 

“I’ll hold you to it”

 

He held my face and kissed me softly. I laid on his chest as he leaned back on the couch. Daveed ran his fingers through my hair, smiling into the kiss. 

 

“I do regret it, but not entirely”, he said breaking the silence

 

“Regret what?”

 

“Vegas. Look at where we are now”

 

“Making out on my couch?”, I grinned

 

“No”, he laughed, “Think about how this could have turned out a month ago. We could have been at each other’s throats this whole time, but here we are. We have a second chance and we can take all the time we need with this, no sense in rushing anything”

 

No sense in rushing, given that we just got our marriage annulled. Daveed and I had an interesting start to our friendship, but somehow it brought us closer. If we made it out of unexpectedly being married for thirty days, we could manage to get over being on other sides of the country. 

 

I rest my head on his shoulder as he kissed my forehead, content with how peaceful this moment turned out to be. I began to smile as I thought of where we could possibly be headed. This was the first time I’ve been happy in a while. As I replayed how everything turned out between us, Daveed looked down at me and shared a very familiar grin.

 

“Why are you smiling?”, he asked

 

“Because I’m happy. You make me very happy”

 

Daveed kissed the back of my hand before giving it a squeeze, “Things may get a little tough given that we’ll be a bit of distance between us, but we’ll get through it. As long as I can be with you in the end, that’s all that matters...Who knows we might get married again”

 

“No, too soon Daveed. Too soon”, I groaned

 

He laughed as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around me, kissing my forehead as the TV played in the background. We sat in a comfortable silence as his warmth and steady heartbeat lulled me to sleep.

 

This was the moment I always look back on, realizing that in the short time that we had known each other, he was somehow the one for me. Laying in his embrace was the only place, I ever wanted to be. Even if the distance would separate us, we always knew that we would find a way back to each other.

 

Maybe that trip to Vegas wasn’t as big as a mistake as I thought it was.


	10. Epilogue

**Six Years Later**

 

Daveed wrapped his arms around me as he spun me around the dancefloor. I returned his grin, happy to be with him again. He leaned down to softly kiss my forehead.

 

He returned to New York and stayed, doing most of his work from my tiny apartment. It started to feel more like home when I came back to see him every night. In the time we spent together, we went on more dates and he asked me to be his girlfriend. About six months later, he had to leave again for filming. It was tough seeing him leave again, but this time felt different, especially after establishing our relationship. We both knew we wanted this to work and there was no hiding it.

 

“Why are you smiling?”, I questioned

 

“Just remembering the day you told me you got another promotion”, he smirked as he twirled me, “You were so excited”

 

“How could I not be?”

 

_ I nervously looked around the airport, searching for Daveed. I needed to tell him the real reason I flew to California, but I didn’t know how to say it. There’s no way he would hate what I had to say. _

 

_ I jumped as an arm wrapped around my waist and someone buried their face into my neck. _

 

_ “I missed you”, he grinned as he squeezed me tighter _

 

_ “I missed you too” _

 

_ We hadn’t seen each other physically in seven months, only phone calls and video chat. Missing him was a part of the problem, but finally being in the same state again made it all worth it. We sat in the car, talking about how the soundtrack and work were coming along. Nothing much has changed, we fell back into our same routine. _

 

_ “You can have my room”, he said as he pulled my suitcase through the door _

 

_ “Where will you sleep?” _

 

_ “There’s a guest bedroom” _

 

_ “And why would you be sleeping there when I’ll be in your room?” _

 

_ “Uhh...I don’t know why I would even suggest that. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever and--” _

 

_ “Daveed”, I giggled, “We shared a bed in New York and you ate me out in that same bed. Nothing has changed” _

 

_ “Okay, yeah”, he said cracking a smile as he put my suitcase down, “So what’s the reason behind this mystery visit?” _

 

_ “Well, work has been pretty great for me lately. They fired Jeremy--” _

 

_ “Good. You never saw him again, right?” _

 

_ “I never saw him after he made a scene for being fired”, I groaned at the memory _

 

_ Jeremy lost his mind when he found out that he was losing his mind. He tried to attack me, Ava, and Gina in front of everyone and had to escorted out the building by security. He’s banned from the building now. Daveed was ready to fly out to stay with me, but I convinced him otherwise.  _

 

_ He visibly relaxed as I took his hand and sat on the bed. _

 

_ “Sooooo, I’ve been pretty busy at work because my boss has been giving me the chance to help other companies. I thought it was weird that he was pushing me so hard, but I found out he was doing it for a reason. Last week they promoted me and gave me Jeremy’s position”, I cheered feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders _

 

_ “Babe that’s great”, he rejoiced as he kissed my cheek over and over _

 

_ “Daveed wait. There’s more”, I giggled, “The promotion is for another location...it’s here in California” _

 

_ Daveed paused above me, eyes growing wide. His smile grew. _

 

_ “You’re moving here?” _

 

_ I nodded. _

 

_ “No more long distance phone calls and video chat. Or missing phone calls and video chats”, he said excitedly, “You can move in with me, we can have dates on Fridays like we did before and...are you alright?” _

 

_ “You want me to move in with you?” _

 

_ “Yes”, he said kissing my lips, “Only if it’s alright with you. We lived with each other before. It’ll be different this time” _

 

_ “Yeah”, I smiled, “This time we won’t have to worry about any of us moving away anymore. This is our home now” _

 

_ “Ou...that’s a yes!”, he pulled me into him, attacking my face with kisses again, “God I love you” _

 

_ The attack stopped immediately as he looked everywhere but my eyes. He started to pull away from me until I grabbed his arm and placed my hand on his face. _

 

_ “I love you too” _

 

_ We spent the rest of the evening in each other's’ arms catching up on our lives and kissing. _

 

“If I recall correctly, you were way more excited than I was”

 

“Maybe”, he agreed, kissing my cheek, “I was ready to move to New York for you. As much as I love California, I love being near you more”

 

He spun me around the dance floor a few more times before we took our seats along with everyone else. We could see Ava and Gina from our seats. Gina was feeding Ava a piece of cake. They looked happier than ever.

 

“I can’t believe it’s been five years already”, I reminisced 

 

“I know. Their wedding was so much fun. I liked meeting their families”

 

“Me too. Ava’s cousin seemed to like you a little too much”, I groaned as I rolled my eyes at the memory

 

“You put her in her place though. She’s got nothing on you baby”

 

We shared another kiss. The entire night Daveed couldn’t keep his hands and lips off of me.

 

“I remember talking to Gina’s dad afterwards. He told me you were a keeper. Everyone thought we were already married. I knew I wanted to marry you, but work kept getting in the way for the both of us. That night at the Oscars I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. Seeing you so happy drove me crazy in a good way. I couldn’t picture not spending the rest of my life with you”, he acclaimed, staring at me dreamily 

 

_ The room was dimly lit when I came home from work. There were rose petals leading me to my bedroom as music softly played in the background. _

 

_ Daveed must have had a great day.  _

 

_ When I stepped in our room, the rose petals stopped at our bed. He was standing in front of the mirror putting a shirt one. He hummed to the music, distracted, as he buttoned his shirt. _

 

_ “What’s the occasion baby?” _

 

_ Daveed jumped, finally noticing my presence, “When did you get home? I thought you weren’t supposed to get here until five?” _

 

_ “It is five” _

 

_ “Oh”, he blushed, “I wanted to do something special for you. We haven’t had much time to ourselves lately and I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me” _

 

_ He stepped away from me as I sat down to take off my shoes, then placed a book in my hands. It was a scrapbook with a picture of the two of us on my old couch in New York. We planned a special date night for each other, only for it to start pouring down. We decided to spend the rest of the evening indoors, playing board games like the first time we got snowed in.  _

 

_ The scrapbook had pictures of us from various moments in our life, there pictures of Gina, Ava, and I in Vegas before we ran into Daveed, Rafa, and Adrienne and vice versa. All the pictures had a description beneath them telling our story. It was a wild story, but it was ours and I loved all of it. The final page didn’t have a picture, only six words. _

 

_ ‘And they lived happily ever after?’ _

 

_ When I looked up in confusion, Daveed was in front of me on one knee with a ring in his hand. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I stared at his bright grin. _

 

_ “Yes” _

 

_ “Baby, I haven’t even asked you yet”, he laughed _

 

_ “I already know my answer. Yes, I want to be with you. I want to marry you and only you” _

 

_ More tears fell as he placed the ring on my and held my cheeks in my hand. He kissed me again and again. _

 

_ “We’re getting married”, he beamed _

 

_ “Second time's the charm” _

 

Before I could say anything, the DJ made an announcement, “Now that everyone is seated, we need the bride to the dance floor to throw the bouquet”

 

“Looks like that’s your queue Mrs. Diggs”, he kissed me again and helped me out of my seat

 

We boarded our flight hours later, exhausted out of our minds.

 

“At least we get to sleep for a couple hours”, he mumbled

 

“We only have a couple hours before our layover. We might as well stay awake”

 

The entire time we were planning our wedding, he made a big deal over our honeymoon. He refused to tell me where we were going. All I knew was I needed my passport.

 

“Did I ever tell you where we’ll be spending our layover?”

 

“No”, I groaned, “You wouldn’t tell me anything”

 

“Our layover is in Vegas. Just for old times sake...even though we’re only staying for a night”

 

“Maybe we’ll stay in the same room”, I grinned

 

“With the way that week played out, I’ll be be surprised if I actually remember the hotel we were in”

 

“We can make this visit as memorable as the last time without the surprise marriage”

 

“The only other surprise would be getting---”

 

“No”, I gasped, “Not yet”

 

Daveed laughed as the plane started to take off. Ever since the wedding, he’s been staring at me with this dreamy look in his eye. 

 

“Our story is a little insane, but I can’t wait to tell it to our kids one day”

 

The grin that spread across his face was infectious.

 

“A _ little _ ? You’re down playing it a bit. We drunkenly got married, then were forced to stay married, we caused a lot of problems that could have been avoided, started dating while still married, got divorced, kept dating, then moved in together, and got married...again”

 

“I played it down  _ slightly _ ”

 

“Did you think we would end up here?”

 

“Yeah”, he said as he played with ring on my finger, “When I moved in with you, I knew. Waking up next to you every morning and going to bed with you in my arms every night made me wonder what it would be like if it were permanent. You and I living under the same roof, not having to worry about when I would have to leave”

 

“But you waited?”

 

“You’re worth the wait”

 

Daveed kissed the back of my hand. I laid my head on his shoulder and began to doze off with a grin on my face. There was nothing in that moment that could be more perfect. 

 

Who would have thought that one trip to Vegas would have changed my life in the best way possible.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
